ESTEVAN — Estevan firefighters responded to a couple of carbon monoxide (CO) alarms that were activated by elevated levels of gas in the air.
The first call for service came in on June 27 at about 1:30 a.m. Crews were dispatched to a residence in the northwest area of the city. They quickly confirmed the CO readings were higher than normal in the home. The investigation showed that the cause was the generator running in the yard, as there was a power outage in the area.
Firefighters stayed on scene, ventilated the house down to safe readings and advised the homeowner to try to get a different setup.
Estevan Fire Chief Rick Davies noted that while it doesn't happen very often, they do see outdoor equipment result in higher CO levels in the buildings and it's something to be mindful of.
"We've seen such cases, not so much from generators, but from vehicles running in the backyard or in a garage or something like that. If there's an HVAC intake or open windows near where a generator [or running vehicle, or other equipment producing CO] is, the exhaust can be going inside, and it's possible that it could build up over time inside. It's not very common, but you can easily understand how it could happen," Davies said.
Another CO alarm went off in the morning of June 28 at about 5:15 a.m. in a residence in the northeast area of the city. Crews picked up higher readings of CO upon arrival, but couldn't instantly find the source, so SaskEnergy was called to the scene. Firefighters stayed on site and ventilated the building down to safe levels, and the scene was turned over to SaskEnergy to further investigate the cause.
No one was affected by higher carbon monoxide levels in either of the cases to his knowledge, Davies said.
