Carbon Monoxide Inhalation Kills 1 and Sends 6 to Hospital in Houston, Texas

22nd June 2023, Houston, TX: Fox26 News reports that on Thursday morning, the fire department responded to 6500 W. 43rd for what they later determined was a carbon monoxide inhalation incident caused by a generator which ran overnight in an apartment building. One person was found dead in a unit along with two other people who were unconscious and taken to the hospital. Three children and an adult in another unit were also hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning symptoms. Read More…

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Please read this carbon monoxide safety advice to help you better understand the dangers of carbon monoxide and how to protect yourself and others. What is carbon monoxide?

Carbon monoxide, or CO, is a colorless, odorless, toxic gas. It is produced by the incomplete combustion of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels. Appliances fueled with gas, oil, kerosene, or wood may produce CO. If such appliances are not installed, maintained, and used properly, CO may accumulate to dangerous and even deadly levels in cars, homes, or poorly ventilated areas.

Where does CO come from?

Carbon monoxide is produced by devices that burn fuels. Therefore, any fuel-burning appliance in your home is a potential CO source. Electrical heaters and electric water heaters, toasters, etc., do not produce CO under any circumstances. Under normal circumstances, CO should not be detectable in the typical home or workplace.

When appliances are kept in good working condition, they produce little CO. But improperly operating or improperly vented appliances can produce elevated — even fatal — CO concentrations in your home. Likewise, using kerosene heaters or charcoal grills indoors, or running a car in a garage, can cause levels high enough to result in CO poisoning.

Common sources of CO include the following wood or gas fueled appliances:

• Room heaters
• Furnaces
• Charcoal grills
• Cooking ranges
• Water heaters
• Automobiles run in closed garages
• Fireplaces
• Portable generators
• Wood burning stoves

Who is at risk of Carbon monoxide inhalation poisoning?

Any person or animal in space shared with a device capable of generating CO should be considered at risk of CO poisoning. CO exposures especially affect unborn babies, infants, and people with anemia or a history of heart disease. Breathing low levels of the chemical can cause fatigue and increase chest pain in people with chronic heart disease.

Each year, nearly 5,000 people in the United States are treated in hospital emergency rooms for CO poisoning; however, this number is believed to be an underestimate of CO poisoning because many people with CO symptoms mistake the symptoms for the flu or are misdiagnosed.

Please read the full advice here…