OLDEST IRISH AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN USA, ESTABLISHED IN 1928
Category: Archive

Deadly carbon monoxide

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

The deadly gas that killed Martin Duffy and his daughter, Hannah, is an even greater threat in cold weather: household oil or gas heating equipment is working full-tilt and pouring out more carbon monoxide than normal. Because homes are also closed up tightly to ward off the cold, the carbon monoxide fails to disperse.
Fire chief Dennis Munnelly warned after the Duffy tragedy that a buildup of carbon monoxide is undetectable by humans until it’s too late. “You can’t taste it, you can’t smell it, it’s colorless, it’s odorless,” he said. Mild exposure brings on flu-like symptoms, nausea and headache. But lethal exposure renders victims unconscious and death follows quickly.
Most CO is vented safely into the atmosphere. But as with the Duffy’s household, sometimes it can leak into the wrong spaces, with tragic results.
U.S. safety authorities reckon 200 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning, most due to a buildup of the gas from a simple piece of domestic equipment — a brush cutter left idling in a garage, for example, or a boiler with inadequate ventilation.
Such deaths, like the Duffys, could be preventable by installing a carbon monoxide detector, available from almost any hardware store. They are usually battery operated like a smoke detector, and can be tested in the same way, weekly.
It’s also worth noting that a smoke detector does not detect carbon monoxide — nor does a CO detector detect smoke. A safe household should have both types of detector installed in several places around the building. And detectors that are approved by American safety authorities are always marked with the reference number UL2034.
Our hearts go out in sympathy to Valerie Duffy and her remaining child, John, as they bury Martin and Hannah from St Mark’s Lutheran Church in Yonkers today. May they rest in peace. And may those without one go and buy a carbon monoxide detector.

Other Articles You Might Like

Sign up to our Daily Newsletter

Click to access the login or register cheese