CO detectors required soon

JOHN DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

A very practical gift Alaska homeowners can give themselves this Christmas is a high-quality carbon monoxide detector. Effective Jan. 1, carbon monoxide alarms will be required in most Alaska homes, in accordance with a new law legislators passed last year.

The statute was inspired by the tragic deaths of David and Rita Arts and their three children, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning as they slept last winter in their Bear Valley home.

Carbon monoxide -- a colorless, odorless gas -- can leak into a home from a number of different sources, including running automobiles in a garage, improperly vented hot-water heaters, neglected gas stoves, soot buildup around stove burners, wood stoves with some kind of inversion or backdraft and damaged gas dryer exhaust pipes.

According to the National Center for Environmental Health, more than 500 people die of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning each year; another 2,000 die from carbon monoxide poisoning as a form of suicide.

Central Mat-Su Borough Fire Chief Jack Krill said Central Mat-Su receives three to four carbon monoxide calls a week and about five to six calls boroughwide. Three-quarters of these calls are false alarms, Krill said, involving CO detectors with dead batteries; sometimes homeowners also mistake the "low battery" alarm with the actual CO alarm.

Krill said anyone purchasing a CO detector should buy one of high quality, with a wall plug-in, battery back-up and digital readout. Homeowners should test their CO detector frequently and monitor CO levels themselves, Krill said.

As the time for the new law to kick in approaches, Krill said he is afraid people will buy cheap CO detectors and Central Mat-Su fire department will be inundated with calls about malfunctioning alarms.

Fire and safety officials in the Valley haven't yet seen any severely high levels of carbon monoxide in any homes that have called in, Krill said, but they have found leaks that would have become serious over time.

On one occasion, firefighters found a CO leak coming from a wood stove that took a long time to locate, Krill said. Often people will open all the windows and doors in a residence when they suspect a leak, but Krill said people should leave windows and doors shut, vacate the residence and call Central Mat-Su; it is much easier for firefighters to pinpoint leaks if the CO levels are not the same throughout the house.

Central Mat-Su Fire Department recently purchased carbon monoxide meters for all fire chiefs. That way, a fire chief can clear a call before a fire truck is dispatched if a false alarm goes off. CO meters are also on each fire truck, Krill said.

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.