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Editorial: Tragic lesson about carbon monoxide can come too late<br>

A baby’s death from carbon monoxide poisoning earlier this month in Flagstaff hammers home a valuable lesson about household safety often learned too late.

The baby’s parents were living in a motel while the father performed maintenance duties, including fixing heaters and air conditioners. According to reports, a faulty heater caused the mother to become ill, and her fetus to die.

The terrible accident demonstrates the importance of taking a few simple precautions around our own homes.

Carbon monoxide is colorless, tasteless and, worst of all, odorless — making it an almost undetectable killer. It comes from automobile exhaust, cigarette smoke and many gas-fueled household appliances.

Exposure to the gas can induce flu-like symptoms such as headaches, muscle pain, nausea, weakness and even loss of consciousness.

One Williams resident and newspaper employee, Connie Hiemenz, learned two years ago about the noxious gas the hard way. She woke up one day with a headache that aspirin didn’t help. After a while, she felt so dizzy she could not stand for any length of time. Eventually she became dehydrated because she couldn’t hold down food or water.

During the next three days Connie stayed home, except for a few trips to the Williams Health Care Center. She began to notice she felt better each time she left home, but mistakenly thought she was just getting over whatever was ailing her.

By the third day, her husband, Bernie, noticed a gas smell in the house and had it checked out. The repairman checked the home and told Bernie to get his wife out of the toxic house. That may have saved her life.

They later determined the problem stemmed from a furnace panel that was improperly replaced when they changed a filter the previous weekend.

Connie was treated with oxygen at Williams Health Care Center and fortunately completely recovered.

Unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky, as a young Flagstaff family learned a few weeks ago.

It’s scary how dangerous the simplest mistake can be.

Experts have provided a checklist to help protect us from carbon monoxide poisoning:

• Check the flame color of gas appliances. If it’s orange, there is a problem that needs to be checked out.

• Check the exhaust pipe for blockages or leaks and make sure it’s installed correctly to begin with.

• Have older appliances checked annually.

• Make sure your home has adequate ventilation.

Insufficient ventilation allows carbon monoxide gases to build up.

• Most importantly, get a carbon monoxide detector. There’s really no other way to know if carbon monoxide is building up in your home before it’s too late.

Our hearts go out to the Flagstaff family. Losing a child is among the worst of tragedies. We just hope a few readers will take these simple precautions to avoid such a terrible tragedy for their families.


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