Heber resident JoNeil Nye said a headache Nov. 28 just made her think she was getting sick.
“Actually, I felt like I was hungover,” Nye added. “But I hadn’t been drinking the night before.”
Inside her home, however, was a deadly amount of carbon monoxide.
Nye said, the night before, she had fallen asleep with her husband and 3-year-old daughter in front of a fire in the fireplace downstairs as colorless, odorless gas likely began spreading through the home when the furnace kicked on.
“Our house was at lethal levels clear through the home. But in my daughter’s bedroom, where there is really no air flow, above where she would be sleeping it was above lethal levels,” Nye said. “Everything had kind of settled right there. If she would have been sleeping in her bed it would have killed her.”
A detector alerted the family that the carbon monoxide levels were high.
“I never thought that that would happen,” Nye said. “It’s terrifying.”
People with carbon monoxide poisoning can suffer from headaches, dizziness, mental confusion or red skin and should immediately call 911, said Scott Adams, an assistant chief at the Park City Fire District.
“If they call 911, their name and their address and all that information comes up on the display,” Adams said. “So if something happens to you and you blank out, at least we have that information and we can send people to you.”
On site firefighters can detect the carbon monoxide levels inside homes.
“If there is a high reading in a certain area and if it’s around one of their furnaces or appliances, we’ll turn it off for them,” Adams said.
Many houses in Summit County built before about 2001 are not equipped with carbon-monoxide detectors.
“If your detector goes off, you’re not going to feel sick because it is going off at a much sooner level than you are feeling those symptoms,” Adams said. “Last year we had a couple calls we went on. They did not have detectors in their house so they called us because they were feeling sick.”
With winter, officials are warning people about the danger of poisoning even from low levels of carbon monoxide in their homes.
“In the wintertime, it’s probably more of a problem because people don’t have their windows open,” Adams said in a telephone interview.
The cold weather is the biggest reason fire departments along the Wasatch Back are busily responding to calls related to carbon monoxide poisoning.
“That’s why they call it the silent killer. People getting flu-like symptoms is how it starts off,” Adams said. “They keep treating the flu, but really what they are doing is they are getting that carbon monoxide poisoning.”
Carbon monoxide cannot be seen. A detector saves lives by sending a warning sound when there are dangerous amounts of the gas.
“They should probably install a detector by all of the sleeping areas,” Adams said.
Faulty heating systems are often the biggest offender. Appliances in homes that use fuel may emit carbon monoxide.
“The biggest problem we see is in the furnaces,” Adams said.
Though Park City winters can be cold, gas-fired generators should never be used inside when snow knocks the power out, Adams said.
“That’s like parking your car in your front room. You’re going to get that same exhaust,” he said.
If not properly ventilated, gas kitchen ranges and space heaters can also emit carbon dioxide. And never barbecue inside.
“Keep your gas appliances properly adjusted and serviced,” Adams said. “Never use your oven or your range to heat your house.”
Fireplaces and wood-burning stoves should be inspected each year and repaired if necessary.