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Homes Must Have Carbon Monoxide Alarms
By NYSOFPC
March 2, 2010
The New York State Office of Fire Prevention & Control (OFPC) is working to ensure homeowners are aware of the hazards of carbon monoxide and the new state law, known as Amanda's Law, which, as of February 22, 2010, requires all residences, both new and existing, to have carbon monoxide alarms installed.
The law is named for Amanda Hansen, 16, of West Seneca, who was found unconscious at a friend's house in January 2009. Officials later determined she had been exposed to lethal levels of carbon monoxide in the home's basement, where she and her friend were having a sleepover. She later died at South Buffalo Mercy Hospital.
"Carbon monoxide alarms save lives," said State Fire Administrator Floyd A. Madison, adding that carbon monoxide poisoning is the number one cause of poisoning deaths in the United States. "More than 2,100 people die from carbon monoxide poisoning every year and over 10,000 people are injured, including, on average, 100 New Yorkers."
Carbon monoxide can be produced when burning any fuel such as; gasoline, charcoal, propane, natural gas, kerosene, oil, wood, or coal. If any flammable or combustible material burns incompletely, carbon monoxide is produced. Carbon monoxide can kill in minutes or hours depending on the level of carbon monoxide in the air.
"We expect that the most frequently asked questions will be about the requirement for existing one and two family residences," Deputy State Fire Administrator, John F. Mueller said. "Now these homes will be required to have one carbon monoxide alarm installed on the lowest story having a sleeping area."
Homes built before Jan. 1, 2008, will be permitted to have battery-powered alarms, Mueller said, while homes built after that date will need to have the alarms hard-wired in.
Although specific requirements differ slightly for new and existing residences, the intent of the law is to help save lives from a silent, odorless and colorless killer.
"OFPC has been a staunch advocate for carbon monoxide detection," Chief Paul D. Martin of the OFPC Bureau of Fire Prevention said. "With fire departments across the state responding to more than 40,000 CO emergencies each year, the early detection and notification afforded by a carbon monoxide alarm is going to go far toward preventing tragic deaths like Amanda's."
OFPC is committed to increasing public awareness of carbon monoxide and the change in state law with a new Public Service Announcement developed through a public-private partnership with the Kidde Corporation.
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