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An ounce of prevention

Carbon monoxide kills more than 150 people in the US every year

-Submitted photo
Otho Fire Chief Marty Smith checks the CO detector in his own home recently. Smith, along with Fort Dodge Fire Department Assistant Chief Lenny Sanders are encouraging homeowners to install the devices.

It’s colorless and odorless.

Anything in a home that burns fuel produces it.

It kills, according to U.S. Fire Administration, more than 150 people every year.

Recently, according to Otho Fire Chief Marty Smith, a carbon monoxide leak could easily have been the reason for two Otho residents being added to that statistic.

“We had an incident Saturday night with one of our residents,” Smith said. “That resident woke up to the sound of two CO alarms beeping.”

One of the residents was already suffering some of the effects of the gas.

“They could not or did not get out,” he said. “They were confused, nauseated and they had a headache.”

Otho/Duncombe Police Chief Jenny Randleman got the call around 1:15 a.m.

“She was there literally in 30 seconds,” Smith said. ‘She banged on the door. It took a while for them to react, she was about to force entry.”

Emergency personnel treated the resident at the scene with oxygen. His daughter, who had been asleep in an upstairs bedroom, did not suffer exposure. His bedroom was located next to the home’s furnace.

“I want to remind people of the importance of installing CO alarms,” Smith said. “If he had not, he would have been dead.”

The furnace had worked without incident all winter, Smith said. The resident had turned it back on during a cold snap.

“He had it checked the next day,” he said. “The service tech said your heat exchanger is cracked.”

Lenny Sanders, Fort Dodge Fire Department assistant fire chief, has seen more than his share of CO calls over his career. Some have been saves due to a working detector, others were calls in which the victim was dead.

“It doesn’t take much,” Sanders said of the gas’ lethality. “It’s a time-based exposure. One hour at 35 parts per million can be lethal.”

How high was it in the Otho residents’ home?

“Our detector showed 55 ppm.” Smith said.

The maximum levels that can be tolerated depend on time. For example, Sanders said, a very short exposure of 1,500 ppm is considered dangerous, a level of 50 ppm over a 24 hour period is also considered dangerous.

Sanders said the gas essentially suffocates the victim.

“It’s suffocation at the cellular level,” he said. “CO has a high affinity for hemoglobin so the oxygen can’t attach like it’s supposed to. It also stays there 200 times longer. The oxygen doesn’t have the ability to knock off the CO.”

Treatment for CO poisoning is usually a high flow of oxygen for an extended period of time. In extreme cases, a victim may have to be treated in a hyperbaric chamber.

Alarms have saved lives in Fort Dodge, too.

“We’ve had some close calls,” Sanders said.

At one of those alarm calls, fire fighters detected a 600 ppm CO level.

“That was clearly a save,” Sanders said.

Symptoms of CO exposure include headache, nausea, disorientation, uncoordinated movements and eventually, loss of consciousness.

CO detectors are relatively inexpensive insurance. The two said they typically sell for about the same price as a smoke detector. Because the gas is carried through the home, usually by air movements associated with force air heating systems, detector placement is not as critical.

“You still don’t want them in a corner,” Sanders said. “Mine plugs into the wall and has a battery backup.”

The detectors are also going to be a legal requirement soon. A law passed several years ago mandates their installation in multi-unit dwellings and single family rental units as well as newly constructed dwellings.

The law takes effect on July 1, 2018.

“They have to have CO detectors,” Sanders said.

Like smoke detectors, CO detectors should be replaced at least every 10 years.

Both recommend the dual sensor detectors that detect ionized particles from open flames and particulates from smoke.

“You get the earliest warning possible,” Sanders said.

The also both recommend everyone get familiar with EDITH, too.

“That stands for Exit Drills In The Home,” Sanders said. “It’s especially important for kids. You also need to have a meeting place outside to gather to account for people that are there.”

He also urges parents to let their children know, if there is a fire, the masked figure making the mechanical breathing noise is there to help them.

“Darth Vader wears black,” Sanders said. “We wear tan. You can go to us, it’s safe.”

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