Know your burners

There has been a spate of carbon monoxide incidents in the past days, resulting in the deaths of 1 teenager and the hospitalization of several others.

In Blacksburg, Va., five Virginia Tech students, all women, were discovered Sunday, Aug. 19, unconscious in their beds, in their rooms at an off-campus apartment. Two of the students were in critical condition, while the three others were stable but still in serious condition. Fourteen other people living in the same apartment complex were brought to the hospital for treatment before they were released.

The women had been sickened by carbon monoxide leaking from a faulty water heater valve in their apartment. The Blacksburg Fire Department found 500 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide in their apartment interior air. The safe limits are only 50 ppm, while people begin experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning symptoms at 25 ppm.

About three weeks ago in New York, a 19-year-old teenager was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning on Aug. 2, and seven family members had to be hospitalized. The electrical service to their residence had been shut down, and the head of the household had borrowed a gasoline-powered generator.

The generator was placed, without vents, in the basement of the house. It was operated overnight to power a computer and some appliances. The teenager had gone down at dawn to shut off the generator, but was found unconscious on the kitchen floor about five hours later at 8 a.m. Police said the teenager was pronounced dead shortly after reaching the hospital. Carbon monoxide levels in the house reached 500 ppm.

A few days earlier, on July 30 at an Aquapalooza event in Stafford, Md., four people on a boat experienced symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. They were rescued by fire-rescue units. They were using a generator on the boat.

The National Fire Protection Association warns that cooking and heating equipment, electric generators, camp stoves, motor vehicles should be used properly to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. The symptoms of poisoning include dizziness, severe headaches, and nausea and are very similar to symptoms of flu and food-poisoning.

Some safety measures to follow, to minimize the dangers of carbon monoxide are:

* Use generators outdoors; never use them inside homes or enclosed garages.
* Use fuel-burning equipment carefully. Never bring barbecue grills indoors.
* Have heating equipment examined at least once a year to check for malfunctions and damage.
* Put a carbon monoxide detector near sleeping areas, and test it regularly.