Last Wednesday, at about 1:00 a.m. in the morning our family had a wake-up call. Literally!! Our main-floor carbon monoxide detector’s alarm set off while we were all fast asleep. While we had never planned what to do if this should happen, my quick-thinking husband turned off the heating, opened all the windows and doors (it was – 7) and instructed me to wake up our boys to ensure they were OK, while he contacted our local gas company.
An emergency technician arrived quickly and immediately confirmed that our furnace was producing excess amounts of carbon monoxide. He disconnected the gas lines and instructed us to keep all the windows open for at least another 30 minutes. (By this point it was 2:00 a.m.)
My husband and I snuggled in bed with the boys and counted our blessings. What a close call. What if we hadn’t had the detectors? When had we last checked the batteries in the detectors? (We hadn’t been very vigilant about it.)
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colourless and odourless gas. Because you can’t see, taste or smell it, it can affect you before you even know it’s there. CO is harmful because it will rapidly accumulate in the blood, depleting the ability of blood to carry oxygen and eventually cause unconsciousness (children and the elderly will be affected more quickly and severely than adults.) Following our escape, we heard the story of a British family who were recently exposed to CO. The young parents awoke from a three day coma to the terrible news that their two children had both died as a result of their CO exposure.
CO is a common by-product of the combustion (burning) of fossil fuels. Most fuel-burning equipment (natural gas, propane and oil), if properly installed and maintained, produces little CO. So, have a qualified technician inspect and clean fuel-burning appliances yearly, before the cold weather sets in, to ensure they are in good working order. And, do install at least one CO detector in your home and ensure it is in good working order. We have since discovered that in some municipalities (including ours) this is the law.
Check out this link to the CMHC website for more details. No one wants to put a damper on things at this time of year, but please do have your heating system serviced and check or install carbon monoxide detectors in your home immediately.
We were lucky to have received last week’s wake-up call. We now have a new furnace and a new perspective on what’s important in life.
Best wishes and take care.
Katie is a Toronto mom to 2 boys, 4 and 7.
I am so glad you listened to the detector, instead of just switching it off. Your attention saved your family. Good job! Happy Holidays, I am sure that this season is just a bit sweeter to you because of this incident.
I am ashamed to say I don’t have one. I am going out right now to get one. Thank you.
Oh my gosh. I have one CO detector… But I couldn’t tell you the last time I checked the batteries. Thanks so much for sharing your story. By reminding people of what to do you could very well be saving lives. I’m so glad everything turned ok for you guys.
I investigate a lot of carbon monoxide cases. The ones hardest to take are those that happen when people ignore their carbon monoxide alarm.
Tom Liston, P.E.
ITA with Jen. Nearly 10 years ago we had a similar scare, and we now have 3 CO detectors in our house; 2 are wired directly to the house wiring, and one is on a battery as a fail-safe. Same with our smoke detectors. But this reminds me that we NEED to make a plan for what to do in case either kind of alarm goes off (heaven forbid). Thanks for the wakeup call and glad you guys are all okay.
Thank god you are all OK! It is amazing how once you hear about this and mention it to people everyone has a story. It is a lot more common than one might think.