Audible Alarm Best To Detect Co
Carbon monoxide, or CO, is a simple molecule of carbon and oxygen that is deadly to humans who breathe it.
It’s also a waste product of internal combustion engines and other devices powered by fossil fuels. As the weather cools in autumn, and travelers retreat inside tight campers and boat cabins, people will die because they overlooked this hidden hazard.
CO is odorless and colorless. It can only be detected with special detectors. Audible alarm detectors are best.
Just ask Don Diemert and his wife, Riley. After mooring at Blake Island State Park marina off the southern tip of Bainbridge Island, Wash., last year, the Diemerts went ashore for dinner. They were gone for about 2-1/2 hours. All the time, their gasoline-powered auxiliary generator had been left running.
The Diemerts’ boat was moored with the stern tight to the corner of the dock. A low tide and dead calm had made the marina into a basin. Nearby, other craft were running their generators, too.
After dinner, the Diemerts returned to their boat. Riley arrived first and proceeded to tidy up the cabin. Don came in later and went to lie down and go to sleep.
Soon afterwards, Riley collapsed from the CO that had collected in the boat basin and their cabin. By sheer luck alone she did not lose consciousness. She did call out Don’s name though which woke him up. Riley told Don she was nauseous and dizzy. Thoughts ran to food poisoning until Don tried to help his wife up and realized he was too weak to do so.
Don immediately left the boat and sought the assistance of Dave Rito, commodore of the Fircrest Yacht Club. It was Rito who quickly recognized the effects of CO poisoning.
The Diemerts were taken by Airlift Northwest to a regional medical facility and treated with 100 percent oxygen. Their short-term exposure and Rito’s quick thinking no doubt saved their lives.
If by now you are scoffing at the Diemerts, hold your judgment. CO poisoning can happen to even the most knowledgeable people.
Last winter, Don Diemert, a member of the National Boating Federation’s executive committee, had written, filmed, edited, and distributed a new Washington State Parks video on CO poisoning prevention. Riley had proofread the script and seen the finished product, too. Nonetheless, CO poisoning crept up on the couple and nearly killed them.
Riley has now taken precautions a step further. She cautions that even sound asleep in your boat, another craft can pull in next to you and run its generator creating a CO hazard. She’s a firm believer in the audible CO detector.
Exhaust gas, heating devices, and industrial exposure are the most common sources of CO poisoning. Methylene chloride paint strippers are metabolized by the body into CO and can cause severe symptoms, too. The best prevention is avoidance of exposure.
Recognizing the signs of CO poisoning is important, too. Because the initial symptoms resemble flu or food poisoning, diagnosis is tough unless CO poisoning is suspected. Headache, nausea, vomiting, weakness, and collapse are followed quickly by coma and death.
Some first aid books tell of CO poisoning victims having a cherry red coloration to their skin. Medical sources however say this is a rare occurrence and an unreliable sign of the toxicity.
The best thing to do is know the signs, know the symptoms, and know the situations of CO poisoning. Get a CO detector available at hardware stores and boat and RV dealers and use it.
Copies of the CO Poisoning Prevention video are available by contacting Washington State Parks, 7150 Cleanwater Lane, P.O. Box 42650, Olympia, WA 98504.