Take precautions to avoid disaster once cold weather strikes
Posted on Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Taking precautions this fall can prevent a fire, carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke-inhalation injury, Bella Vista Fire Chief Steve Sims said.
With cold weather coming, people should be checking their furnaces, fireplaces, chimneys and wood stoves, he said.
Heating and air-conditioning professionals can check a propane furnace to see if the heat exchanger is cracked, if the filters are good and if the pilot light is burning properly.
If a heat exchanger is broken or cracked, it can produce carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless gas that can kill. Any appliance that burns a fuel and produces a flame can produce CO.
In addition to furnaces, Bella Vistans need to have their fireplaces and chimneys inspected and, if need be, repaired by a professional, Sims said.
When someone burns wet wood wood that hasn't been dried or seasoned - the fire produces creosote and coats the inside of a flue, Sims said. Creosote can catch fire and spread from the flue to the attic to the roof.
Also, smoke stacks coated with the sticky substance will not draw properly, he said. The fires won't burn as well and may allow CO to flow back into the living space.
Each home should have a monitoring device that can detect the lethal gas produced by a faulty heating unit. The device will sound an alarm to tell people to get out of their home if the gas is present.
Running a vehicle in a garage is another way the poisonous gas can get into a home. Sims warned that even if the garage door is open, enough gas can enter the home to set off a CO detector. If Bella Vistans are going to leave their vehicles running, he advised, they should back them out of the garage and close the garage door.
Anyone using a gas-fired portable generator after losing power during an ice or snow storm must also beware of CO, Sims said.
"Put it (the generator ) away from your house," he said. "Don't put it near any window. Don't put it under a crawl space."
If people want to protect their generator from the weather, they should build a shed with proper ventilation in the yard away from the house, he said.
They also need smoke detectors. Many people have died from smoke inhalation before they even realized their home was on fire.
For those who already have these safety devices, check to make certain they are working properly, and change the batteries if they are battery operated, Sims said.
One final piece of advice Sims offered for this winter was to open the dampers before starting a fire in a fireplace.
"We go to a lot of houses full of smoke because people forgot."
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