What to do if Carbon Monoxide Alarm is Alarming?
Get Out of the House
We continue to get calls from people who want to know what to do if their carbon monoxide alarm is alarming. If your carbon monoxide alarm is alarming, GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. Don’t call our 800 number. Don’t call 911. Get out of the house. The longer you wait to get out of the house, the more carbon monoxide you are going to inhale and the higher the carbon monoxide concentrations in your blood will climb, exposing you to risk of further damage and DEATH. Yes death. You may becoming aware that you have carbon monoxide poisoning at this moment and be unconscious the next.
Drop Where you Stop a Real Risk if Carbon Monoxide Alarm is Alarming
There is a real risk of rapid loss of consciousness if your carbon monoxide alarm is alarming. We have represented several people who had a brief awareness of becoming ill and then rapidly lost consciousness. They survived only because other people rescued them. In the most serious cases of carbon monoxide poisoning, there is very little time between awareness of the danger and loss of consciousness. Do not wait to call 911. You can call 911 after you have vacated the premises. Don’t call the Brain Injury Law Group 800 number.We know of cases of people who passed out while they were trying to explain to 911 what was going on and who they were.
Do not take the time to open your windows and doors. It is like you are on an airplane and they tell you to put your mask on first before helping others. The unconsciousness can happen that quickly.
Only Pause to Warn Other Occupants
If there are others in your dwelling, office or hotel room when you realize you are at risk of being poisoned, make sure that everyone else is getting out as well. But keep in mind when you are warning other people that your time to escape may be very limited. The first setting for carbon monoxide alarms to go off is a rapids accumulation of carbon monoxide above 400 ppm in concentration. That can be levels that cause rapid unconsciousness.
Unlike this low level carbon monoxide detector shown here, if your UL approved carbon monoxide detector is going off, the levels of carbon monoxide in your body are already significant. GET OUT BEFORE YOU CALL 911.
Once you are safely out of the building, call 911 and wait to be evaluated by the EMT’s. We highly recommend that everyone who was in a premises where the alarms are going off be transported by ambulance to the emergency room. You should not be driving. You should be a patient advocate and demand that your carbon monoxide levels be tested. Even if you feel you are fine, you may not be. The exposure that can occur before any alarm goes off is enough to leave permanent brain damage and disability. Get your blood tested as soon as possible.
Our complete treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning, starts here.
Proper diagnosis of carbon monoxide poisoning in the ER.