Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week
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In recognition of the second annual Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week, Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman, joined by Doug DeRabbie of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, donated a number of carbon monoxide detectors to Tillsonburg Fire and Rescue Services on Friday.
"Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week is a time to make sure that you and your family are safe by installing a carbon monoxide detector in your home or checking to make sure your detector is working and hasn't expired," said Hardeman. "It's particularly important as people are turning up the furnace and trying to make their homes airtight for winter, which increases the risk for carbon monoxide poisoning."
In December 2013 the Ontario Legislature passed the Hawkins Gignac Act, Hardeman's private members bill, requiring carbon monoxide detectors in Ontario homes and establishing Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week beginning Nov. 1st each year. The Bill was named after a Woodstock family of four that tragically lost their lives after a blocked fireplace exhaust filled the house with carbon monoxide.
This is the second donation of carbon monoxide detectors the Insurance Bureau of Canada has made to the Tillsonburg Fire Department, part of the over 5,000 detectors distributed across Ontario.
"We've been working with Ernie for over two years now," said DeRabbie, "donating CO alarms to fire services across Ontario. Thanks to him, we've donated over 5,000 alarms in the past two years. And we're going to continue with these donations.
"Almost every home in Ontario has something that poses a carbon monoxide threat. Having a detector will help protect families and save lives. We look forward to working with all stakeholders to continue to raise awareness of the dangers of CO."
Carbon monoxide detectors are required in all homes with a fuel burning appliance or attached garage. They are also required in multi-residential buildings in suites with a fuel-burning appliance or adjacent to a service room or garage.
"Carbon monoxide is extremely dangerous because you can't see it, taste it, or smell it," said Hardeman. "But you can protect your family by getting fuel-burning appliances serviced regularly, checking chimneys and vents, and most importantly making sure you have a working detector in your home. There's no other way to know if you have carbon monoxide in your home other than a detector."
Hardeman noted a recent story that cited the need to maintain the detectors.
"Ninety-four per cent of the people when asked if they have a working carbon monoxide detector in their home, less than half of those actually knew that they were required maintenance.
"If we go back to when we started this, the first wave of people that bought them because of our efforts, they need to now be looking at the longevity of their detectors and make sure they're still operating and functional.
"They all come with a 10-year warranty. But the batteries have to be changed, same as you do with a smoke alarm."
And they need to be cleaned.
"They are a mechanical device, so dust can get in and either block the sensors or give false readings," said Tillsonburg Fire Chief Jeff Smith, noting they recommend a soft upholstery attachment, from the exterior of the detector. "Smoke detectors are ion-sensing... but these are mechanically sampling the air. They're drawing air in to sample it, so they are susceptible to dust and contaminants in the air and need to be cleaned."
"We're not taking them apart," Hardeman smiled. "Just clean them, especially if they're in a heavily contaminated area – areas that are accessible, where air can get in."
TILLSONBURG OPEN HOUSE
On Saturday, Nov. 7, a Carbon Monoxide Awareness Open House will be held at the Tillsonburg Fire Hall, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., hosted by the Tillsonburg Fire Department in conjunction with the Tillsonburg District Real Estate Board.
"Last year we attended 47 carbon monoxide related calls," said Smith, "and actually found carbon monoxide present at 13 per cent of them."
Carbon monoxide was found in 5 per cent of Tillsonburg Fire Department calls in 2013.
"Unfortunately, it is trending up," said Smith. "We're attending more false CO calls, but we're also finding carbon monoxide present at more..."
Smith attributed that rise to a number of things including the fact that there are more carbon monoxide detectors in the community, and newer home construction is tighter.
"Older homes could have had appliances giving off carbon monoxide, but there was enough air exchange that it didn't affect people. Now, with the quality of construction, houses are tighter, and in general I think people are more aware of it. Local tragedies have certainly brought this to the forefront."
Smith noted that CO generating appliances are not just fireplaces.
"Any fuel burning appliance. It could be your dryer. It could be your water heater, your furnace. Your fireplace, your oven. Leaving your car running in the garage attached to your house...
"Carbon monoxide is the result of incomplete combustion. It's when your furnace is not properly tuned and you're not getting the right air-to-fuel mixture, and you're getting yellow flames off your furnace – that's when you get carbon monoxide. But that system is a closed cycle, air goes out the flue, it leaves your house. It's when you have incomplete combustion and some malfunction in the venting is when you get a carbon monoxide problem in the house.
"A gas-burning stove with a nice blue flame, you're going to have minimal carbon monoxide. Our instruments may not even be sensitive enough to detect it. But when you get a yellow flame off that stove, you're putting carbon monoxide in that house."