There aren’t a lot of details being released so far in Manhattan about the two people who apparently were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning in their home, except to note that, according to Riley County Police, there was a car left running in a garage adjacent to the duplex where the two lived.
A third person was hospitalized.
Police have said there is no evidence that there was criminal intent, but the other details are still being investigated.
What the tragedy does raise to light, however, is the significance of carbon monoxide poisoning and the ease with which it can strike.
There was a time when we lived in drafty houses with only partial heating, no sealed windows, doors that you could watch snow sift under if the conditions were right.
But that is not the case any more.
This time of year, we hear about the importance of making sure that our home heating systems are safe, but that’s not the only way people end up with CO poisoning.
It can happen with vehicles, too.
As Great Bend Fire Department experts have warned, too often, people want to warm up their vehicles before they leave for work on chilly mornings, so they leave them in an attached garage while they idle — after all, we all know it isn’t safe to leave a vehicle idle in the drive way, because we’ve been warned how easy it is for someone to just drive off.
The residents may even open the garage door a little while the vehicle idles, but that still poses a threat.
GBFD Battalion Chief John Stettinger has explained, with the modern heating systems, air is often circulated out of the garage area as it is drawn into the home central heating system, and so, as the vehicle is warming up, that CO gas is circulated into the house too.
If the house is kept weather tight, then the CO can continue to accumulate as the “warm up” procedure is followed, day after day.
Eventually, the inhabitants begin to sicken and can even succumb.
CO poisoning is serious, and it does lead to tragedies, as this recent incident in Manhattan, sadly, illustrated.
— Chuck Smith