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Pennsylvania Lawmakers Consider CO Detector Law

As people spend more time indoors during these dreary winter months, carbon monoxide poisoning becomes more of a threat. But Pennsylvania lawmakers are trying to reduce that risk.

You definitely see the upsurge of that starting in September, October, as soon as the heaters go on, said Chief Bill Rehr, Reading Fire Department.

Just this week, New York made it mandatory for every home to have one and state lawmakers in Pennsylvania are considering the same thing.

The Carbon Monoxide Alarm Standards Act is gaining support and could be up for a vote early next month. If passed, homes with fuel burning furnaces, attached garages, or fireplaces would need to have alarms installed by next year.

Carbon monoxide has no color or odor and symptoms mimic the flu.

Law or not, officials say having a working alarm is your best defense.

Next to smoke detectors, said Chief Rehr, carbon monoxide detectors are ranking right up there with them as an important device to have in your home.

Across the state, carbon monoxide emergencies coincided with the snow storms earlier this month. February 3rd, six people were taken to the hospital when carbon monoxide filled a business in Bucks County.

Four days later, 34 people suffered symptoms in a church in northwestern Pennsylvania. Two others outside of Pittsburgh died.

The next day, carbon monoxide forced folks out of a mall in Delaware County.

All in all, the CDC says 400 people in the U.S. die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning and 20,000 more are treated in emergency rooms.

Carbon monoxide alarms start at around $20 and soon that may be a price all Pennsylvanians have to pay.