Hello, All,

As the warmer months approach, we typically see fewer cases of CO poisoning from faulty heaters, blocked chimneys, and the like.  

However, this is swimming pool season, and improperly vented pool heaters can lead to catastrophe.  This can happen not only at home, but in hotels, gymnasiums, and health clubs.  

While having a hotel room overlooking the swimming pool may seem attractive, those rooms place us at increased risk of CO poisoning, if they are not properly maintained.  If you do book a room over the pool, remember the symptoms of CO poisoning, and vacate the room if you feel nauseated, light-headed, unusually sleepy, headachy, or as if you have the flu coming on. Act quickly, and do not assume that there will be a CO monitor in your room.  As always, the best advice is to have a portable CO monitor with you at all times.  (www.detectcarbonmonoxide.com)

We also see more people heading out camping and boating during the warm months.  Please remember to keep your generators far away from your sleeping area, and do not operate them in enclosed spaces!!

Below is a listing of CO-related news in the US during the past four weeks:

Burlington, VT man dies in home from CO

East Orange, NJ apartment evacuated due to lethal levels of CO

Alexandra, MN man dies of CO in home

Two people transported to hospital for CO poisoning at Green Bay, WS hotel

Columbia, SC man dies from CO poisoning after house fire

Carbon Monoxide Sickens 11 In Kingsessing

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―

A portable generator is believed to have sickened 11 with carbon monoxide in Kingsessing on May 8.

Firefighters were called to the 5600 block of Warrington Avenue after a call from a concerned neighbor at about 3 a.m.

Yvonne Dunn, 74, said her carbon monoxide detector was triggered by gas overflowing from a nearby home, prompting her to call authorities.

"I didn't know that carbon monoxide travels from house to house," she said.

Crews rescued 11 people, including three children, from three homes on the block. They were rushed to area hospitals, but many are said to have a mild case of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Investigators believe a generator running in the unventilated basement of a family of seven spread the colorless, odorless gas.

"They had the electric turned off and they were supplying the electric through this portable generator," said Chief Derrick Sawyer with the Philadelphia Fire Department.

Fire officials said the home did not have a carbon monoxide alarm or any fire alarms. In January, it became law that all residences should be equipped with both carbon monoxide and fire alarms.

Charges may be filed if the investigation proves the portable generator was being used illegally.

11 overcome by CO poisoning in San Francisco, CA home

Towanda, PA man dies from CO in house fire

Binghamton, NY man dies of CO in apartment fire

Bluefield, WVA family of 4 sickened by CO

More than 30 people sickened by CO at Phoenix, AZ ice arena

West Boca Raton girls killed in apparent carbon monoxide poisoning were 'model citizens,' principal says

By MICHAEL LaFORGIA Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, May 31, 2009

It started as a Saturday night sleepover for two girls, 11 and 12, with a trip to Wal-Mart thrown in.

Then came Sunday morning, when Amber Sue Wilson's mother could not wake her.

By morning's end, Amber and her friend Caitlin Brondolo were dead in the one-story home in the Loggers Run community west of Boca Raton. Amber's mother, Loretta L. Wilson, landed in the hospital, unaware of the girls' fate until detectives told her hours later.

All three were stricken by carbon monoxide fumes in what investigators initially were calling a "tragic accident" - perhaps caused by a sport utility vehicle left running in the garage, Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies said.

"They were great students, model citizens, absolutely lovely young women who had so much promise," said Carol Blacharski, principal at Loggers Run Middle School, where the girls were in the sixth grade. "The teachers who had them are just absolutely devastated."

The girls' families were still trying to piece together what had happened.

"We really don't have much information on this situation yet," said Amber's grandmother, Margaret Lance, speaking by telephone from Ellwood City, Pa., in a voice deadened by grief.

"I just can't believe it," said Caitlin's mother, Jill Brondolo, according to the Sun Sentinel. "I'm totally shocked that this would have happened."

Brondolo, who also lives in suburban Boca Raton, said Caitlin was a straight-A student who had become a golf enthusiast, taking lessons for four years and competing in junior tournaments, the Sun Sentinel reported.

She said Amber, another straight-A student, was "a sweetheart. I loved her like my own daughter."

Loretta Wilson, 45, told detectives that something strange had happened to her Ford Escape SUV after she returned with the girls from a trip to Wal-Mart about 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

Wilson said the Ford's engine would not turn off after she pulled the SUV into a garage attached to her house, at 11541 Island Lakes Lane, and closed the garage door behind her. She told detectives that the three of them went inside and fell asleep, sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

Wilson woke about 9 a.m. Sunday and tried to rouse her daughter.

Amber would not stir.

Wilson dialed 911 but apparently was too affected by the fumes to talk to a call-taker. Dispatchers called Wilson back before deputies and paramedics rushed to the family's neighborhood, the gated Island Lakes at Loggers Run subdivision near Glades Road and State Road 7, Barbera said.

Inside, the emergency workers found one girl dead in the kitchen and the second in a front bedroom.

Authorities found Wilson and a small family dog outside in front of the home. They took her to West Boca Medical Center, where she remained Sunday evening. She was expected to recover, Barbera said.

Detectives searched Wilson's house Sunday morning and found the Ford in the garage, its engine turned off and its fuel tank half full. The car keys were on a kitchen counter. There were signs that Wilson, who works for ADT Security Services, was preparing for a business trip.

Besides Wilson, the dog also survived exposure to the toxic fumes. Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control workers were tending to the animal.

Wilson's sister Kristina Lance, 37, and Wilson's 9-year-old son also live in the house but spent the night elsewhere Saturday, authorities said.

"At this very moment it appears to be a tragic accident," Barbera said. "We don't suspect any foul play."

Brondolo said she was astonished that Wilson may have left a vehicle running in the garage, the Sun Sentinel reported.

"I know Loretta is a single mom, but she has neighbors she could have asked for help," the newspaper quoted Brondolo as saying. "She could have called my husband."

The state Department of Children and Families was joining the sheriff's special investigation division in looking into the girls' deaths.

Blacharski, the Loggers Run principal, said she had spent much of the day talking to teachers and staff who knew the girls.

She said her staff will meet before the school day begins this morning to discuss the deaths, and grief counselors will be at the school to talk to students.

The school will provide ways for students to share memories of the girls, including bulletin boards for students to sign.

"It's going to be a hard day at school," Blacharski said.

So, folks, as you see, smart people can do stupid things.  Here in the Philadelphia area, we have lost many souls when the driver of a car accidentally parks it in a garage and leaves it running, allowing the fumes to enter the family's living space.

Please, use common sense, and buy CO monitors for your home and your own self!

please see our zero-profit-to-us line of bags, diaper bags, and totes with built-in personal CO detectors at http://nocogear.com