Detectors are key against the silent killer
Posted Jan 4, 2010 03:27:25 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Fire prevention is urging people to keep generators outside your home after a Nova Scotia man succumbed to carbon monoxide during a power outage.
“It’s colourless, odorless and it’s referred to as a deadly gas, you can’t taste it, you can’t smell it, you can’t see it,” says Kevin Thomas a fire prevention officer with Halifax Fire, calling it a silent killer.
“And it readily mixes with the hemogloben in your system.”
A 54-year-old Nova Scotia man died of carbon monoxide poisoning over the weekend. It’s believed a generator used for heat during a power outage was the culprit.
Thomas says it’s not just generators that can create the deadly fumes.
“A lot of people have a fuel-burning appliance in their home,” says Thomas.
“And if you have an appliance that produces carbon monoxide you need to have a detector in your home.”
He says since carbon monoxide mixes in with the air, there’s no specific place the detector should be, but to follow any instructions that comes with the detector.
Thomas adds, if you need to use a generator to keep it outside of your home away from any windows or air intakes.
