Carbon Monoxide: The Silent Killer

Creeping silently through your home, there's a killer that gives no warning. This killer is carbon monoxide. An invisible, odorless gas, carbon monoxide (CO) is produced when burning any fuel, such as gasoline, propane, natural gas, oil, wood, or charcoal. It is a silent killer, which causes illnesses by decreasing the amount of oxygen present in your body.

Young children are especially vulnerable to the effects of carbon monoxide because of their small bodies. Children process carbon monoxide differently than adults, may be more severely affected by it, and may show symptoms sooner.

You won't know that you have a carbon monoxide leak, without a working detector. If you burn any fuels for heat or cooking, be sure that you have a working carbon monoxide detector in your home.

Top Tips for Preventing Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Know the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.

• The most common symptoms include headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and confusion. In severe cases, the person may lose consciousness or die.

• CO poisoning can often be mistaken for other illnesses, such as the flu.

• Often, more than one person in the household will suffer symptoms at the same time.

• Install a CO alarm outside every sleeping area and on every level of your home.  

• Place CO alarms at least 15 feet away from every fuel-burning appliance to reduce the number of nuisance alarms.

• Test alarms every month and replace them every five years.

• Make sure alarms can be heard when you test them and practice an escape plan with your entire family.

• Have all gas, oil or coal burning appliances inspected by a technician every year to ensure they are working correctly and are properly ventilated.

• Never use a stove for heating.

• Do not use a grill, generator or camping stove inside your home, garage or near a window.

• Never leave a car, SUV, or motorcycle engine running inside a garage, even if the garage door is open.

• CO can accumulate anywhere in or around your boat, so install a CO alarm on your motorboat.  

• Get everyone out of the house as quickly as possible into fresh air. Then call for help from a neighbor’s home or a cell phone outside of your home.

• If someone is experiencing CO poisoning symptoms, call 911 for medical attention.

• If no one is experiencing symptoms, call the fire department. They will let you know when it is safe to re-enter your home.

Protecting Your Family

A small fire can grow into a deadly one within minutes. To help prevent a tragedy, closely inspect your home to eliminate potential hazards. Prepare your home for an emergency, and teach your family about the dangers of fire and how to escape. If a child is coached properly ahead of time, he or she will have a better chance of surviving.

Eliminate potential hazards:

• Keep matches, lighters and other heat sources out of children's reach. Playing with matches and lighters is the leading cause of fire deaths for children ages 5 and under.

• Keep flammable items such as clothing, furniture, newspapers or magazines away from the fireplace, heater or radiator.

• Keep all portable heaters out of children’s reach.

• Avoid plugging several appliance cords into the same electrical socket.

• Replace old or frayed electrical wires and appliance cords, and keep them on top of, not beneath rugs.

• Store all flammable liquids such as gasoline outside of the home.

Prepare your home:

• Install smoke alarms on every level of your home and in every sleeping area. Consider installing both ionization alarms, which are better at sensing flaming fires, and photoelectric alarms, which are better at sensing slow, smoky fires.

• Test smoke alarms monthly. Maintain alarms by replacing batteries at least once a year, and replace alarms every 10 years. Plan and practice two escape routes out of each room of the house. It is important to have an alternate escape route in case one is blocked by fire. Fire drills should be practiced spontaneously throughout the year, as home fires and home fire-related deaths are more likely to occur during cold-weather months, December through February. 

• Keep furniture and other heavy objects out of the way of doors and windows, so they won’t block an escape.

• Designate an outside meeting place, so all members of the family can be accounted for quickly.

Teach safety:

Children should know the sound of the smoke alarm. When they hear it, teach them to:

• Crawl low under smoke. An estimated three-fourths of childhood fire deaths are caused by the smoke and toxic gases produced as a fire develops and spreads.

• Touch doors before opening them. If the door is hot, use an alternative exit.

• Never go back into a burning building. Children should be reminded not to stop or return for anything, such as a toy or to call 9-1-1. A call to 9-1-1 should be placed after leaving the premises.

• “Stop, drop and roll." Upon leaving the burning house or building, children whose clothes have caught on fire should immediately stop, drop to the ground and roll themselves back and forth quickly to extinguish the flames.

• Take children to your local fire station for a tour. Children will be able to see a firefighter in full gear and learn that he or she is someone who saves children – not someone to be afraid of or hide from.

• Also, be sure you’re not teaching your children bad habits.  Don’t let them see you smoke in bed or disconnect smoke alarm batteries!