(Arnolds Park)– It’s a colorless, odorless gas, and exposure to high levels of it can make you very sick and can even result in death. We’re talking about carbon monoxide.
With Winter Games this weekend, authorities are urging anyone planning to heat tents, ice houses or other temporary structures to make sure they have proper ventilation and that heaters, especially propane and those that burn wood, are working properly. Arnolds Park-Okoboji Fire Chief Chris Yungbluth tells KUOO news it’s a good idea to have a carbon monoxide detector available just in case…(click here for comment.) “If it’s burning inefficiently that’s usually when it starts to put off the most carbon monoxide, and it will start to build up. And most of these tents, most of the ice shacks people put heaters in, they don’t think about putting a carbon monoxide detector in, and they can be a cheap little piece of insurance that you can throw in there and know exactly where you’re at and especially if it’s getting to dangerous levels. Usually they alarm about 35 parts per million or sometimes a little more above that depending on the manufacturer. They can be battery operated and a cheap little tool to keep you safe.”
Because it has no odor, Yungbluth says carbon monoxide, unless you have a detector, can poison you without you even knowing it. And he says the symptoms can vary from person to person…(click here for comment.) “It kind of sneaks up on you actually and it gets to the point where you’re in big trouble before you start to notice those symptoms, but if you do go outside and you feel, your skin has kind of changed from a cherry-red color, that’s usually one of the most common ones, but that doesn’t occur in everyone actually, just in some folks. And if you’re exposed long enough to that, otherwise it’s similar to the feelings of intoxication where you’re just not coordinated with your movements and you just don’t feel right about things and sometimes in some cases they get the nausea, vomiting. But again it depends on the person and how they respond to that.”
And with the flu prevalent right now, Yungbluth says special tests may have to be conducted to determine if it actually is carbon monoxide poisoning…(click here for comment.) “Some of the fire-rescue, ambulance services have a little finger probe they can put on your finger and it can tell you the level of carbon monoxide. Otherwise the only truly accurate way is to get a blood test to see how much of a level of carbon monoxide is in your blood.”
Yungbluth says so far this winter there have been no incidents in the lakes area where rescue crews have been called due to high carbon monoxide. He attributes that mostly to the fact that most homes now have carbon monoxide detectors.
