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(AMA Guide) Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

  • Apr 7
  • 1 min read

Carbon monoxide is invisible, odorless, and deadly. During winter storms, the risk goes up sharply when people use generators, gas heaters, or grills indoors. Do not let this happen to you or your family.

What to know

  • Never use generators, grills, camp stoves, or fuel-burning heaters indoors or in enclosed spaces

  • Symptoms: dull headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, confusion, shortness of breath

  • Key sign: symptoms improve when you leave the building and return when you go back inside

  • Another key sign: everyone in the household gets sick at the same time but no one has a fever

  • Highest risk: when using furnaces, generators, stoves, or fireplaces

Details

Carbon monoxide is produced by anything that burns fuel — furnaces, portable generators, gas stoves, fireplaces, grills, and camp stoves. Running any of these in an enclosed space without proper ventilation can be fatal. Never use an oven, stove, grill, or portable generator to heat your home. Portable generators powering electric heaters produce carbon monoxide too.

If you suspect carbon monoxide in your home, get everyone outside immediately and call 9-1-1. Do not go back inside until emergency services clear the building. A battery-powered carbon monoxide detector is an inexpensive, potentially life-saving addition to your home emergency kit.

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