What travelers should know about carbon monoxide safety as spring break ramps up
You can't see or smell carbon monoxide gas, but it's the leading cause of poisoning deaths in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 400 Americans die each year "from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning not linked to fires."
Whether leaking from a faulty appliance or a fireplace, the fumes can fill every room as you sleep.
"It's considered the silent killer," said Sean Malloy, field chief of the Evanston Fire Department in Illinois.
Travel safety tips
Experts suggest making sure your hotel room or rental is equipped with at least one carbon monoxide detector.
"You're going to want one at least on every floor as well as near bedrooms and in the hallways outside bedrooms," Malloy said, which is also recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
If the alarm goes off in your home, hotel or vacation rental, experts say to get out of the building immediately.
"If I'm in my apartment, Airbnb, wherever I'm staying and the alarm goes off, I know that we're getting about 30 parts per million carbon monoxide," Malloy said.
Both Airbnb and Vrbo post on their website whether or not they have carbon monoxide alarms installed in units. Even so, the safest move is to pack one of your own when you travel. Consider taking a portable detector so you can walk around your rental unit and test to make sure the air is safe to breathe.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning
Data shows firefighters responded to more than 4,000 carbon monoxide incidents at hotels, motels and resorts between 1999 and 2020. More than 1,000 people have been hurt and at least two dozen have died, according to the National Fire Incident Reporting System.
In recent years, deaths of American tourists in Mexico and the Bahamas have been linked to carbon monoxide leaks.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning may include:
Headache
Dizziness
Nausea
Vomiting
Weakness
Chest pain
Confusion
"We might just have a headache, feel nauseous, have something going on, feeling dizzy, where we just think we might be getting sick, and it's actually carbon monoxide that's causing it," Malloy explained.
But Malloy adds you could not have any symptoms at all.
"You're not going to know it's there, and what it's going to do is it's going to replace that oxygen in your blood," Malloy said.
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