Security Industry News >> EMERgency24 Inc.

Kentucky House Bill 555 Calls for Carbon Monoxide Detectors in Residences

Hundreds of people die every year from carbon monoxide poisoning. It's a growing problem and now a proposed bill is aimed at protecting people from this silent killer.

"Just having a standard across the board, just like a smoke detector is vital in every home, so to is a carbon monoxide detector," explains Lexington, KY, Fire Chief Marshall Griggs. Over 400 people die and more than 20,000 are seriously injured every year due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Kentucky House Bill 555 is trying to prevent that. The proposal would require carbon monoxide detectors to be installed in every single or multi-family home built after January 2011. The Lexington Fire Department responds to over 100 calls a year about possible carbon monoxide poisoning, there's already been 34 so far in 2010. They say the proposed bill will help protect the community.

"It's such a dangerous thing. It's a colorless odorless gas that causes death, eventually, if you're exposed to it for too long. We've seen that first-hand here in the community and we've seen many close calls. So, anything that's going to improve the safety of the community, we're all about that," says Chief Griggs.

The Lexington community is no stranger to tragedy, back in the summer of 1996, the Simmons family was killed by CO poisoning.

"We had an entire family in a home where a car was actually left running in the garage and the next morning they were all found dead, the whole family," comments Chief Griggs.

And Lexington Fire has seen several cases where carbon monoxide detectors saved lives.

"they had excessive levels of carbon monoxide in their home. Their alarm notified them, no one had to go to the hospital, all because their alarm did its job," explains Chief Griggs.

The Kentucky State House Health and Welfare Committee heard testimony on that bill Thursday.