In Southern California, the most likely space for carbon monoxide poisoning is small residential units where there are gas appliances. The smaller the living space you live in, the more dangerous. Larger homes are safer, small spaces are not.
Any gas appliance that is in poor shape, or improperly installed may set off a CO detector. Furnaces, gas ranges or stoves, gas clothes dryers, water heaters, portable fuel-burning space heaters, fireplaces, generators, and wood burning stoves are the most common. Vehicles, generators, and other combustion engines running in an attached garage also create carbon monoxide.
If anyone is experiencing symptoms, you need to get everyone into fresh air and call 911 from a neighbor’s home. If no one is experiencing symptoms, you should call the fire department, a neighbor, or 911. If you are unable to leave the home to call for help, open the doors and windows, and turn off all possible sources while you are waiting for assistance to arrive. Under no circumstance should an alarm be ignored.
If you would like to have your CO detectors in your home checked, please call us at 310-800-4418.
