Beware Carbon Monoxide After Nor'easter

No power at home? As crews continue to repair damage from Friday’s winter nor’easter and restore power, you must remember not to use natural-gas powered kitchen ovens or ranges to heat your home. Using these cooking appliances for heating creates a significant risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, say officials from O&R.

Also, don't use charcoal grills indoors for heating or cooking because of the CO risk that also creates. The same warning applies to fireplaces that are not properly ventilated.

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that is invisible, odorless and tasteless. It is formed by the incomplete burning of fuels such as heating oil, wood, gasoline, natural gas, propane and charcoal.

Breathing even small amounts of carbon monoxide can result in headaches, dizziness and nausea. Prolonged exposure can result in more severe illness, or even death.

To further do your part to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, never leave a vehicle or gasoline-powered equipment running in a garage, even with the garage door open and operate a portable electric generator outdoors away from air intakes to the building.

Anyone who smells natural gas should leave the area immediately and call 911.

SEE ALSO:

• Still No Buses Across The MCB: Nor'easter Aftermath
• O&R Continues Work On Power Outages Saturday
• NYSEG Outages, Criticism In Nor'easter Aftermath
• 63K+ Con Ed Power Outages Saturday In Westchester
• 39K+ Central Hudson Customers Without Power Saturday
• Putnam Opens Comfort Stations, Monitors Storm Impacts
• Take Care: Metro-North Issues Weather Advisory For Hudson Valley

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