Night of the Sirens: Analysis of Carbon Monoxide-Detector Experience in Suburban Chicago☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
INTRODUCTION
Carbon monoxide (CO) is the most common cause of acute poisoning deaths in the United States, with about 21% of these deaths considered unintentional.1 The home is a common source of CO exposure. With frequent fatalities due to CO poisoning (as many as 10 fatalities in one exposure) and because of the fact that Illinois is one of the leading states with unintentional CO deaths, in 1994 Chicago became one of the first major metropolitan areas to require residential CO detectors.1, 2 The use of
MATERIALS AND METHODS
When a call for a sounding CO detector was received, fire department personnel went to the home in question to measure the CO in the home. Data including date, time, location of call, manufacturer of detector, CO measurements in home, reports of illness, firefighter assessment of cause, and actions taken were collected between July 15, 1994, and January 26, 1995, on all residential calls to the fire departments for CO-detector alarms. These data were documented, coordinated, and received (using
RESULTS
Seventeen suburban fire departments recorded information on 777 calls for sounding CO detectors in residential homes between July 15, 1994, and January 26, 1995. A total of 828 measurements for CO calls were performed, with some calls involving more than one measurement. In-home CO levels among all calls' measurements ranged from 0 to 425 ppm: 0 in 249 homes (30%), 1 to 10 in 340 (41%), 11 to 50 in 149 (18%), 51 to 100 in 22 (9%), and more than 100 in 11 (1.3%). In six cases, no measurement was
DISCUSSION
CO toxicity is a function not only of concentration but of duration of exposure. Whereas an air concentration of 1,500 ppm is considered to be immediately detrimental to life and health, lower concentrations for longer periods can exert serious toxicity. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has established a maximum safe working concentration for CO at 35 ppm for 8 hours, whereas the US EPA has established that residential CO concentrations should not exceed 9 ppm over 8 hours.
By
References (12)
Carbon monoxide detectors and emergency physicians
Am J Emerg Med
(1996)- et al.
Carbon monoxide: The silent killer with an audible solution
Am J Emerg Med
(1996) - et al.
Occult carbon monoxide poisoning: Validation of a prediction model
Am J Med
(1988) - et al.
Relationship between venous and arterial carboxyhemoglobin levels in patients with suspected carbon monoxide poisoning
Ann Emerg Med
(1995) - et al.
Unintentional carbon monoxide: Related deaths in the United States, 1979 through 1988
JAMA
(1991) - City Council of the City of Chicago: Amendment of Title 13, Chapter 64 of Municipal Code of Chicago by addition of new...
Cited by (21)
Analyzing the national fire incident reporting system to identify carbon monoxide incidents in the U.S. lodging industry
2021, Preventive Medicine ReportsCitation Excerpt :Fourteen firefighters were reportedly injured during the incident responses across 7 incidents. While this is not a complete record of the true impact to public health, previous studies on fire department responses to residential CO alarms identified that between 5 and 13% of calls result in symptoms of CO poisoning (Bizovi et al., 1998), indicating that there are likely additional incidents with injuries that are not reflected in the NFIRS data. The three previous efforts to identify CO incidents in the U.S. lodging industry have all identified far fewer incidents than those reflected in NFIRS.
Unrecognized carbon monoxide poisoning leads to a multiple-casualty incident
2013, Journal of Emergency MedicineCitation Excerpt :Within this group, carbon monoxide (CO) is regarded as a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, with 20,000 affirmed exposures and 439 deaths per year in the United States, not including fire-related cases (1,2). During a 6-month period, suburban Chicago fire departments responded to 777 calls for sounding CO detectors, and a Pittsburgh emergency medical response center was called 101 times within 3 months because of possible CO poisoning (3,4). Local EMS in a town of 11,000 inhabitants was contacted by a woman who found her husband lying unconscious on the floor of their house's basement at 5:30 pm.
What's New in Pediatric Carbon Monoxide Poisoning?
2008, Clinical Pediatric Emergency MedicineCitation Excerpt :The use of detectors in the Chicago area expanded significantly thereafter, but there were a number of days for which “false” or nuisance alarms (ie, fire departments could not determine any malfunction to account for the alarm) were increased. These clusters were ultimately blamed on a meteorological condition known as a thermal air inversion, which traps ambient gases, including CO, close to the ground [13]. Once a patient presents to an emergency department with a question of CO exposure, the key laboratory investigation is the direct determination of the blood COHb concentration.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning at Motels, Hotels, and Resorts
2007, American Journal of Preventive MedicineMeasurement of carbon monoxide in simulated expired breath
2005, ResuscitationRisk and protective factors for fires, burns, and carbon monoxide poisoning in U.S. households
2005, American Journal of Preventive Medicine
- ☆
From the Departments of Emergency Medicine, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, and University of Illinois at Chicago; and Toxikon Consortium, Cook County Hospital, Chicago,* Emergency Services, Rush Medical College and Rush Presbyterian–St. Luke's Medical Center,‡ the Great Lakes Center for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health, University of Illinois at Chicago,§∥ and Toxikon Consortium, Cook County Hospital,II Chicago, IL; and College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL.¶
- ☆☆
Address for reprints: Jerrold B Leikin, MD, Emergency Services, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, 1753 West Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL 60612, 312-942-4978, Fax 312-421-1832
- ★
47/1/89938