A new safety message is making the rounds this holiday season, and it’s important that you hear it.
There are some new regulations under the Ontario Fire Code which start January 1st with regards to Carbon Monoxide Detectors. They are now required in more places in the home, outside all sleeping areas and even on floors without one.
Acting Prince Edward County Fire Chief Tim Kraemer said it best, “As the silent killer, carbon monoxide poses a deadly threat that you can’t detect without a proper alarm.”
I know that all too well.
Way back in 2009, I was about to head off to sleep when my Carbon Monoxide Detector went off, leading to an appearance by the Belleville Fire Department who told me my ground floor had four times the safe levels of the deadly gas.
The cause was a pipe venting the furnace which had frozen over. If I had ignored the alarm and gone to sleep, I would have never woken up.
So please, check your carbon monoxide detectors. Make sure they are outside of every bedroom and also on floors without them. Test them. Maintain them, and don’t ignore them when they go off.
If I didn’t heed the warning from that carbon-monoxide alarm more than 16 years ago, then you wouldn’t be hearing me today, and our youngest son would have never been born.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking Beyond the Headlines.
