Des Moines, IA – Less than 24 hours after Robert Taylor installed a carbon monoxide detector in his home, the device began blaring.
Taylor, 70, thought the detector was malfunctioning and he tried changing the batteries. Then he called the Des Moines Fire Department.
Firefighters detected carbon monoxide at three times the normal levels.
“I’m thankful,” Taylor said of the detector. “Who knows what would have happened.”
Taylor and his wife, Janice, 72, had spoken with members of the fire department at the Polk County Senior Center last week and decided to install the alarm.
“I’d never thought much about it,” Taylor said. “We had smoke detectors, so I thought we were good.”
Fire officials are in the third wave of an attempt to distribute free smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to Des Moines residents.
Firefighters at the senior center last week had run out of detectors. But Taylor was persistent. He said he called the fire station and then went and picked one up.
On Tuesday, fire officials were back at the center, distributing another 75 donated alarms. Most were smoke detectors, but officials tried to give each interested person at least one device that detected both smoke and carbon monoxide.
Taylor urged those in attendance to add a carbon monoxide detector to their home. He also urged Iowans to have their furnaces checked. Taylor’s furnace, which was the cause of the carbon monoxide, is being replaced.
Des Moines Fire Inspector Brian O’Keefe also urged Des Moines residents to either buy a carbon monoxide alarm or get one from the fire department. “You’ll never smell it or taste it,” he said of carbon monoxide. “You wouldn’t have any idea.”