ARTICLE #3:
As published in the NFPA Journal/ November/December 1997

CO Poisoning - Know the Symptoms

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning can be deadly. To be safe, you need to know how to prevent it from happening to you and your family. When carbon monoxide (CO) replaces oxygen in the blood stream, it can cause serious injury, even death.

Where does it come from?

When fossil fuels, such as gasoline, wood, coal, propane, oil, and methane, burn incompletely, CO, an invisible, odorless, and colorless gas, is created. Heating and cooking equipment are possible sources of CO, and vehicles running in a garage can produce dangerous levels of it.

What does it do to people?

When CO replaces oxygen in the blood stream, the result is CO poisoning. How CO poisoning affects someone depends on the person's age and health and the amount of exposure, both in concentration and length of time. Mild CO poisoning can feel like the flu, but more serious poisoning can lead to difficulty breathing and to death. High concentrations of CO can be dangerous even if a person is exposed to it for only a short time.

How to protect yourself

• Don't run a vehicle or other fueled engine or motor inside a garage, even if the doors are open.
• Have your vehicle tested for exhaust leaks if you have any symptoms of CO poisoning.
• Have fuel-burning household heating equipment, such as fireplaces, furnaces, water heaters, wood stoves, and space heaters, checked every year before cold weather sets in.
• Have your chimney checked annually.
• Before enclosing central heating equipment in a small room, check with your fuel supplier to ensure that enough air for proper combustion is provided.
• When using a fireplace, open the flue.
• Always use barbeque grills outside, never in the house or garage.
• When buying a home, have a qualified technician evaluate the integrity of the heating and cooking systems, as well as the sealed spaces between the garage and house.
• When camping, use battery-powered heaters and flashlights in tents, trailers, and motor homes.
• If you install CO detectors in your house and recreational vehicles, use detectors listed by a qualified, independent testing laboratory.
• When buying new heating and cooking equipment, choose factory-built products approved by an independent testing laboratory. Have a qualified technician install the equipment.

Keeping Our Children Safe

Every year thousands of children are injured or killed in fires. The best defense against fires is to understand how to protect ourselves and our children and to effectively teach our children the fundamentals of fire safety. The following information was obtained through the National Fire Protection Association's Web site and was published in the March/April 1997 issue of the NFPA Journal.