Carbon monoxide poisoning has sent at least four Lambertville citizens for medical treatment.
By: Sue Kramer
LAMBERTVILLE There’s a killer on the loose, but it’s not human.
It’s a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas called carbon monoxide. It can kill you before you even know it’s there.
It is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the United States, and it has sent at least four Lambertville residents for medical treatment already this year, according to the Lambertville Fire Department.
With an increased awareness of the problems caused by carbon monoxide poisoning and more residents installing CO detectors in their homes, the department has issued some guidelines that will not only help protect residents from carbon monoxide poisoning, but also will help firefighters with their job.
Department Deputy Chief Matthew Hartigan, a 29-year firefighter and chief of the Hibernia Fire Company on South Main Street, offered some background information on carbon monoxide and outlined the department’s recommendations for dealing with carbon monoxide emergencies.
According to information put out by First Alert, a leading manufacturer of alarms and detectors, carbon monoxide is a common gas that’s a result of incomplete combustion of fossil-based fuels. In other words, when you burn wood in a fireplace, coal in a stove, oil or gas in a furnace, kerosene in a space heater or even gasoline in a car, not everything burns. Cars have an exhaust, fireplaces and wood stoves vent through a chimney, even clothes dryers vent to the outside. Part of this leftover "stuff" that’s vented outside is carbon monoxide gas.
Normally, there’s no problem. But when an appliance malfunctions, exhaust pipes loosen, charcoal grills, gas logs and wood burning stoves are improperly vented or flues and chimneys clog, carbon monoxide can build up inside a house, and that’s where the problems begin.
Carbon monoxide can replace the oxygen in the air. When it’s breathed in, it bonds with hemoglobin in the blood, replacing the oxygen we need to live. It forms a poisonous compound in the blood called carboxyhemoglobin. With this toxic compound circulating throughout the body, things start to go wrong.
According to First Alert, the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are similar to the flu: headache, dizzy spells, nausea, confusion and irritability. As less and less oxygen is able to circulate in the body, the person begins to vomit and lose consciousness. Brain damage and even death can follow.
"The longer you’re exposed, the more symptoms you’ll have," Mr. Hartigan said.
There was a time, not too long ago, people had no way of knowing until they got very sick that their home had dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Today, carbon monoxide, or CO detectors are readily available.
"If you’re going to purchase an electrical alarm, make sure it has a battery backup," Mr. Hartigan said.
Better yet, he said, is to purchase one electric and one battery operated alarm, in case the power goes off. It’s also important to make sure detectors are Underwriters Laboratories (UL) approved and sound an audible alarm.
First Alert recommends placing one set of alarms near the home’s bedrooms, with a second set located near the home’s heating unit.
"Learn to recognize the sound of the CO alarm," Mr. Hartigan said. "Some do sound different than a smoke alarm."
The next step is to know what to do if the alarms go off.
"Immediately gather the occupants and animals and exit the structure," Mr. Hartigan said.
Do nothing else. Just get out of the building. And stay out until you’re told it’s OK to go back in.
"We want you to exit the building because carbon monoxide is a poison that isn’t detectable to smell or vision we’re not able to tell how long you’ve been exposed to carbon monoxide so for health and safety reasons, we want you to exit immediately," Mr. Hartigan said. "Leave the alarm on and the windows closed. Call 911 from outside the structure using a portable phone, cellular phone or a neighbor’s phone.
"In Lambertville, there are fire boxes on many corners. They may also be utilized to alert the fire department of the emergency."
Mr. Hartigan noted if someone pulls a firebox, for any reason, they should remain there until the Fire Department arrives.
"The Fire Department will have no way of knowing where the actual address of the emergency is because they will respond to the location of the fire box," he explained.
The first thing the Fire Department will do is "make sure everyone’s out," Mr. Hartigan said.
Then firefighters, wearing self-contained breathing apparatus, will go inside the building and take samples of the air with special monitoring equipment.
He pointed out residents might hear different emergency guidelines from other sources as an example, many companies like First Alert recommend testing the alarm when it goes off and/or resetting it to see what happens. It also recommends opening the home’s windows to air the property out.
The Fire Department says emphatically: Do neither of these.
Aside from the fact that ignoring the alarm or delaying in notifying the Fire Department could have serious physical consequences, Mr. Hartigan said if the home’s windows have been opened, firefighters wouldn’t be able to detect any carbon monoxide if it had been there. Also, many alarms, he said, have a built-in carbon monoxide level detector. Resetting or turning the alarms off can erase that information.
That’s why we want people to "leave the alarm on and the windows closed," he said.
"If we detect carbon monoxide, we’ll notify the proper authorities to remedy whatever the problem is," he said.
The property owner then should fix the problem that caused the dangerous buildup of carbon monoxide as soon as possible to avoid further illness or more serious problems.
There are some simple steps homeowners can take to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.
"Have heating systems cleaned and checked prior to cold weather season; have chimney and fuel venting systems checked regularly; and have fuel burning appliances checked regularly," Mr. Hartigan said.
If, despite these precautions, a CO emergency should occur, Mr. Hartigan said, "do not ignore your alarm, risk attempting to air your structure out yourself or stay in the structure. Call the Fire Department."

