Harrisonburg, VA – After a close call yesterday, local fire crews are sending out a warning.
However, this warning isn’t how to prevent a fire, but something much harder to detect.
We are talking about carbon monoxide, also known as the “silent killer.”
Yesterday, crews responded to a call for a person acting disoriented in a convenience store.
They ended up going to the person’s house, and found several other people with similar symptoms.
The folks had all been exposed to carbon monoxide and been poisoned.
The culprit was a generator whose fumes were leaking into the crawlspace.
Luckily, the generator ran out of gas before the fumes could take a more deadly toll.
“This is a near-miss situation and hopefully it is a wake-up call,” said Tyler Jessup, the Rockingham County Fire and Life Safety Technician.
Jessup says this is a good reminder of the close calls any of us could face.
Many large appliances, like a furnace or water heater, can produce carbon monoxide.
The fire department says it is just as important to have a carbon monoxide monitor in all levels of your house as it is to have a smoke alarm.