Orleans County Red Cross offers safety tips

Charlotte Rodas, executive director of the American Red Cross of Orleans County, offers the following safety tips on carbon monoxide alarms:

Every home should have properly installed and maintained carbon monoxide alarms. Install battery operated CO alarms or plug-in CO alarms with battery back up in the home according to manufacturer's installation instructions. CO alarms should be certified to the requirements of the latest safety standards for CO alarms (UL 2034, IAS 6-96 or CSA 6.19.01). It is especially important to have a CO alarm near sleeping areas.

Other precautions include:

•Test and maintain CO alarms according to manufacturer's instructions.

•CO alarms can help detect CO, a colorless, odorless gas produced by burning any fuel. Exposure to high levels of CO can cause death. Initial symptoms of CO poisoning are similar to the flu and include dizziness, fatigue, headache, nausea and irregular breathing.

•Because of the risk of CO poisoning, never operate unvented fuel-burning appliances in any closed room or where people are sleeping.

•CO can leak from faulty furnaces or fuel-fired heaters or can be trapped inside a home by a blocked chimney or flue. Burning charcoal inside a home produces CO. Running an automobile engine in an attached garage can cause CO to enter a home and so can running a portable generator if it is near windows, doors or vents, even if it is outdoors.

•Never use gas appliances such as ranges, ovens, or clothes dryers for heating the home. Never use a portable generator in an enclosed or partially enclosed space, including your home or in a garage, basement, crawl space, or other partially enclosed area, even with ventilation. Locate a generator outdoors and away from doors, windows and vents that could allow CO to come indoors. Generators can produce high levels of deadly CO very quickly.

February 5, 2006