Fire officials: Be sure to monitor your carbon monoxide detector

Whether from warming up after a day on the slopes or keeping cozy on a stormy evening, the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning increases exponentially during the home heating season. And without a working detector, this colorless, odorless killer is nearly impossible to stop.

A product of incomplete combustion emitted by many household appliances, carbon monoxide is rapidly picked up by our red blood cells. If there is enough carbon monoxide in an enclosed area, the body may replace oxygen in blood with the gas, a process that can lead to serious illness and possibly death.

While symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning mimic those of the flu, severe headaches, dizziness, mental confusion, nausea, or fainting, it is often difficult to detect. Add to that it is colorless, odorless, and tasteless, carbon monoxide could be considered a perfect killer.

“We’ve had a frightening number of (carbon monoxide) calls in our district,” said North Tahoe Fire Captain-Paramedic Dan Hopwood, “some of which had bad results.”

The phenomenon isn’t limited to California, though, said Greg McKay, North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District asst. chief.

“With more people turning on their heaters or having flues that are damaged we get significantly more calls for carbon monoxide than we do in the summer,” McKay said.

In January 2005, emergency responders found two unresponsive women in an Alpine Meadows’ home who had monoxide poisoning. One of the women was saved by a hyperbaric chamber at California’s Travis Air Force Base. The other died before paramedics arrived.

In February 2008, four ambulances rushed to a Chinquapin Condominium complex to resuscitate and transport nine near-death persons who suffered the common flu-like symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.

A mountain town issue

According to North Tahoe Fire Chief Duane Whitelaw, carbon monoxide problems are especially prevalent in mountain towns.

As residents become reliant on combustion heat sources during winter months, there are many factors that work against proper ventilation of the deadly gas. Air-tight home construction, snow build-up, forest canopy debris, and rodents can all cause fatal amounts of carbon monoxide to build up in a home.

And while 70 percent of the homes in the North Tahoe Fire District are second homes, many of these problems are overlooked by homeowners who do not regularly maintain their rental property, potentially threatening the lives of uninformed guests.

“It is pretty routine for us to go on CO calls,” said Hopwood, “when those alarms go off, we quickly respond and test a home’s atmosphere ...”

Make sure it works

While properly maintaining your home’s combustion appliances and ventilation system is a part of ensuring your safety, a properly working detector could mean the difference between life and death.

“In this district more people are saved by CO detectors than smoke detectors,” said Hopwood.

Unlike smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors deteriorate and must be replaced every two years. According to Hopwood, when you press the test button on a carbon monoxide detector, the only thing you are testing is the alarm, not the component that detects the presence of the dangerous gas.

If you are unable to afford a detector, the North Tahoe Fire District has a number of detectors they can provide in special need cases.

In an effort to protect yourself, Hopwood and Whitelaw urge residents never to operate non-vented fuel burning appliances (wood, coal, oil, gas) in your home, never leave a car running in a garage, make sure snow drifts, wood piles and rodents do not block first floor vents, and have all fuel burning appliances installed and regularly inspected by professionals.

“A lot of Tahoe homes are reaching old age,” said Hopwood. “Now is the time we are seeing a lot of cracked heat exchanges and dangerous conditions in poorly maintained homes.”

Bonanza reporter Kyle Magin contributed to this report.