NILES — After a day care center’s staff reported smoke in their business Monday morning, area fire departments, an ambulance service and a heating and cooling service spent about six hours making the building safe for entry.

At 6:39 a.m., the Niles Fire Department responded to a call from Children’s Center day care staff who said they saw smoke from the inside of the 210 E. Main St. building when they came in to open up the daycare.

The department found that the business’ boiler was burning improperly, causing ceiling insulation to burn and create smoke. The malfunctioning boiler had also created high levels of carbon monoxide.

Fire captain Don Wise said carbon monoxide levels reached 500 parts per million in the basement, where the boiler was located, and 200 parts per million on other floors.

According to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, continuously breathing in air with carbon monoxide at 200 parts per million can lead to death.

Over time, the Niles Charter Township Fire Department, Southwestern Community Ambulance Service, heating and cooling company Pro-Temp and Clay Fire Territory of Clay Township, Indiana, joined to help.

After Semco Energy Gas Company shut off the building’s gas and the city of Niles shut off its electricity, crews began venting out the carbon monoxide and attending to the fire.

The infrastructure of the building created challenges to the crew, though, Wise said.

“They could only go in for so long before they overheated because of the boiler,” he said.

Crew members — wearing heavy clothing, gear and masks — had to rotate between one another as they sought to cut through the metal mesh and plastic ceiling.

“The old construction that’s really well built made it hard to get into,” Wise said. “It takes more time.”

By the time responders were able to clear the building of carbon monoxide and smoke, it was about 12:30 p.m. Six hours had passed from when the crews arrived.

At the time of publishing, the reason why the boiler began to burn improperly had not been determined, but Wise thought the system may have been blocked by an object.

No one was injured during the incident.

Children and parents were near the property in the morning, but they were not in the building at any point, Wise said. They had come to the day care expecting it to be open.

It has not been determined when Children’s Center will open again, but it will be able to, he said.