Feature Column: "Keeping Your Hometown Healthy"

As the cold wind sweeps across the state, Arkansans are using their heaters and furnaces to warm their homes during the winter months. Cozy, secure rooms are a welcome relief from the blustery weather outside. However, a silent and potentially fatal killer in your home could be threatening your family - carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges homeowners to have their fuel-burning home heating systems inspected by a qualified service technician. This inspection could help prevent the more than 200 deaths attributed each year in the United States to carbon monoxide poisoning associated with fuel-burning home heating equipment.

Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless and tasteless. It is frequently difficult to detect and produced by the incomplete combustion of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels caused by faulty or misadjusted heating equipment. Household appliances fueled with gas, oil, kerosene or wood may produce carbon monoxide. It can poison or kill its victims before they are aware of its presence.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are easily mistaken for influenza, particularly at this time of year. The symptoms of headache, fatigue, dizziness, nausea and diarrhea can be attributable to influenza; however, they are the same symptoms of the potentially fatal carbon monoxide poisoning. Long-term exposure to carbon monoxide can lead to neurological disorders, memory loss, personality changes and mild to severe forms of brain damage. Watch for symptoms that disappear once you are out of the house or symptoms that affect the entire household at once. Contact your heating, cooling and ventilation service representative if you suspect carbon monoxide leaks. If your family experiences continued symptoms, seek medical attention for diagnosis and treatment.

Carbon monoxide detectors should be placed in bedrooms and on the ceiling above fuel-burning appliances. Be sure that the detectors meet the requirements of Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standard 2034. A UL-listed product is so-noted on the packaging material and on the detector itself. They sound an alarm before dangerous levels of carbon monoxide accumulate in your home. A carbon monoxide detector should give you ample time to ventilate the home or get out before it's too late.

Develop and practice a home evacuation plan that protects your family against fire or carbon monoxide; this plan should include a safe meeting place away from the home so that all family members can be counted. If your carbon monoxide detector sounds, you should:

• Leave the house at once if anyone is experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.



• Call the fire department, local utility company or emergency medical services from a neighbor's home.



• Stay out of the house until an expert advises you that re-entry is safe.



• If the carbon monoxide detector sounds and no one in the home is experiencing any symptoms, ensure adequate ventilation by opening windows, doors and turning on fans.



• Then turn off any fuel burning appliances immediately.



• Call a qualified service technician to diagnose the source of carbon monoxide.

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