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Carbon monoxide monitors mandatory in 2013
A CO monitor can be found for between $20 and $30 at home improvement and department stores.
A new kind of alarm will join your smoke detector in becoming mandatory in every home in 2013.
Carbon monoxide is a particularly deadly health risk because many things can cause it to build in your home, but you can’t smell it, see it or taste it.
So this month, be sure to pick up a CO detector to protect your family.
“CO alarms for new construction have been required for some years, but for existing homes will be required after January,” said Monroe Fire District #3 Fire Marshal Michael Fitzgerald last week. “It’s a smart thing to do for your family.”
Carbon monoxide can come from many sources. Wood stoves can produce it. Propane heaters, charcoal barbecues and operating automobiles also emit it; and occasionally someone working on a car in an enclosed garage or someone in a room over the garage, can suffer carbon monoxide poisoning if the engine is left running too long.
It doesn’t take long for the odorless, colorless gas to overcome people, said Fitzgerald.
“I responded to an incident at an apartment where six people were all unconscious and we found a charcoal barbecue they brought indoors to cool by a window,” he said. “If a neighbor hadn’t called us they’d all be dead.”
It is during power outages that the greatest number of accidental poisonings occur.
“There were a large number of deaths when power was out throughout the region several years ago,” said Fitzgerald. “People were running generators in their garages. A lot of people died.”
The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are easily confused with other maladies, he said.
They can include a general feeling of not being well, including headache or nausea and malaise. Erratic behavior is sometimes also a symptom.
Carbon monoxide detectors run about $20-$30 and can be found at department stores and hardware stores.
Gerald Zion
December 19, 2012 at 9:07 pm
The article about CO alarms being required in 2013 is great as a heads-up, but it leaves some important information out, namely exactly what date does the requirement begin, etc.? So, here’s what we all need to know:
1. What date does the new requirement for existing homes begin?
2. Where are the CO alarms to be located (e.g., garage near house-entry door, bedroom above garage, etc.).
3. Where can one read the new requirements?
4. What are the consequences of non-compliance with the new requirements?
5. If one has purchased a new-construction home within the last 5 years, where are the CO alarms most likely to have been placed? Are these locations grand-fathered or else how does one ensure one’s CO alarm locations meet the requirements?
Thanks.
Michael Fitzgerald
December 20, 2012 at 5:59 pm
I appreciate the questions posed by Mr. Zion. As fire marshal, I would like to respond in this forum to provide updaTed informAtion to You and other readers.
The requirement for existing homes is effective January 1, 2013. State law requires that CO alarms be installed Outside each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedroom, and on each level of the residence.
The State Building Code Council has published a great list of rules that be accessed at this URL:
https://fortress.wa.gov/ga/apps/sbcc/File.ashx?cid=2255
The consequences of non-compliance includes serious illness and death. Government agencies will (generally) not be conducting inspections to verify compliance with CO alarms, except in the case of a permit issued by the local permitting authority for other work.
New homes purchased after January 1, 2011 were required to install CO alarms at the time of construction. The CO alarms would have been installed in the locations specified above.
If questions exist about the location or functionality of the smoke alarm, one should contact their local (city or county) building department and request a courtesy inspection of the CO alarm.
Any additional questions may be sent to fireprevention@monroefire.org.
Thank you for your interest in the fire- and life-safety of your family and home.
Both
December 25, 2012 at 9:03 am
Great…so because a few ignorant illegal immigrants gased themselves, we all must bear the burdon of preventative measures for something not many people have been stupid enough to do. Another great knee-jerk reaction from our knee-jerk government officials who cant’ think for themselves.
Retired Chief
December 27, 2012 at 1:46 pm
To Both,
I find your comment offensive. Just as your ability to puke ignorance on the internet also gives me the right to call you a moron.
Being a retired Fire Chief, thinking back on those deaths in my city that were caused by mis-information or folks just not understanding the implications of carbon Monoxide I can only think of two instances out of thousands in my 33 years in the Fire protection industry that involved anyone of Hispanic descent.
Most people ran generators in their garages right under the bedrooms, I had a good friend pick up the phone and call me saying he couldn’t wake his wife.. He had a generator in his garage. HE JUST DID’T KNOW and he was a good friend of mine. They all (6) survived but he felt so stupid that he almost killed himself and his family… I am glad to read you are a self proclaimed genius. Now please go crawl back in your hole…
Chrissy gray
January 4, 2013 at 12:45 am
What state is this for?!? I’m in Texas demanding this be done! I had gas posioning from a leaking heater upstairs for a period of several months! I was sick with a broken foot & had surgery so everyone thought I was sick from all that bc NO one smelled the gas but me! I was very upset to hear from the gas company said that they couldn’t come out to check unless the home owner called & that was my grandmother so I got worse having to wait for her to call 3 weeks later! Also it was hard bc she’s got demintia & I do everything for her!! They came out found the leak I knew about but said a home gas leak can’t effect a person in any way which I don’t believe at all! So it’s not stupid it should be in ALL homes to save lives & after going to the ER 8 times in 3 months & also having a seizure I don’t think it was all a coincidence!
Derek Ricker
April 13, 2013 at 5:18 am
A smoke detector is a device that detects smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Commercial, industrial, and mass residential devices issue a signal to a fire alarm system, while household detectors, known as smoke alarms, generally issue a local audible or visual alarm from the detector itself.:
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