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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An increase in carbon monoxide poisoning calls last year could prompt Nebraska lawmakers to require alarms in houses and apartments.
A bill set for a legislative hearing this week would add Nebraska to a growing list of states that require the devices in addition to smoke alarms.
The hearing comes after a year that saw the number of carbon monoxide calls to the Nebraska Regional Poison Center climb from 107 in 2013 to 167 last year, said Kathy Jacobitz, the group's managing director. No deaths were recorded.
Most of the calls to the center, which operates a 24-hour statewide emergency telephone service, come in winter months, as people use furnaces and gas appliances to heat their homes, said Jacobitz. It's not clear whether the call increase points to more carbon monoxide problems or if people were simply more likely to report issues.
Regardless, Jacobitz said many people don't report carbon monoxide problems and the actual number of cases is likely far higher.
"It's definitely is a concern for us," Jacobitz said. "We certainly have seen sad consequences when people do not have carbon monoxide detectors."
The bill would require carbon monoxide detectors in any house or apartment sold, rented or issued a building permit after Jan. 1, 2017. Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha said she introduced the measure in response to past carbon monoxide deaths and close calls.
"This is just a small step to try to prevent those types of tragedies," Howard said.
The city of Wahoo became one of the first in Nebraska to require detectors in 2006, after a father and son died in their home from poisoning. Ron Larsen, 55, and his 18-year-old son, Tim, did not have a working carbon monoxide detector in the house.
Investigators blamed a faulty furnace, which a repair company had worked on days before their deaths.
Carbon monoxide has no color, smell or taste, and produces symptoms often mistaken for the flu. The gas can induce sleepiness, headaches, vomiting, dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, shortness of breath and ultimately death. The most common causes of a home buildup are faulty furnace equipment, cars left running in garages and propane heaters used in enclosed spaces.
More than 400 Americans die every year from unintentional carbon monoxide poisonings and another 20,000 are seen in emergency rooms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 4,000 are hospitalized. The fatality rate is highest among Americans 65 and older.
Nebraska would join 29 other states that require carbon monoxide detectors in certain residential buildings, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Requirements vary by state.
Howard introduced a similar bill in 2013, but then made changes to address concerns from real estate and homebuilders' groups. It was held over until last year and unanimously voted out of committee, however it didn't get to a full vote before the 2014 session ended.
She proposed it at the request of the Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance, a group that works to eliminate environmental health risks in housing.
Staff members for the group visited between 200 and 300 homes in Omaha in 2013 and found that more than half had no carbon monoxide detector, said Kara Eastman, the president and CEO. Eastman said many residents in older homes complained of headaches and sickness in the winter, unaware that carbon monoxide levels were high.
Eastman said her group has seen low-income people who heat their homes by opening ovens or lighting grills indoors, which can produce the gas.
The Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee will review the bill in a public hearing Thursday.
The bill is supported by the Nebraska State Volunteer Firefighter's Association.
"A bird can build a nest in your chimney and you'd never know it, or something can come detached from your heating system," said Bill Lundy, the group's secretary-treasurer. "This is a life-safety matter. It's better to be on the safe side than to have multiple fatalities."
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The bill is LB34
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