Dec. 10--YAKIMA, Wash. -- Landlords throughout Washington state are hustling to get carbon monoxide detectors installed in their properties by Jan. 1 to comply with a new state law.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 500 people nationwide die each year from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, a statistic that drove passage of the law back in 2009.
Those numbers spike during the winter, sometimes because of malfunctioning gas heaters or sometimes when people make unfortunate decisions in an effort to stay warm, said Christy Boiselle, a spokeswoman for the West Valley Fire Department.
"Unfortunately in the winter time, people sometimes take drastic measures," she said. "They take their barbecue indoors and there's not the ventilation, and that's how they get into trouble."
It's easy enough to avoid something like that, but unhealthy levels of carbon monoxide can also come from everyday sources, such as gas cooktops and stoves, improperly ventilated fireplaces and generators placed too close to homes. The gas itself is colorless and odorless, and it can cause significant health problems in only minutes if levels are high enough in an enclosed space. In addition to the more than 500 annual deaths reported by the CDC, there are about 20,000 emergency room visits for carbon monoxide poisoning symptoms, which include dizziness, nausea and breathing problems.
The majority of carbon monoxide calls the West Valley Fire Department gets are cleared up by the time firefighters arrive, just by people opening doors and windows, Boiselle said.
But it's still important to call the department if a detector goes off. The city of Yakima Fire Department doesn't get many carbon monoxide calls -- two in 2010, three in 2011 and two so far this year -- but there is a history of problems in Washington state.
The 2009 legislation imposing the new detector requirement refers to the storms of December 2006 in Washington, during which "over 1,000 people in the state were seen at hospital emergency rooms with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, and eight people reportedly died of carbon monoxide exposure."
The legislation also mandated detectors for newly built owner-occupied homes but exempted homes occupied by owners prior to its passage. It passed the state Senate 38-10 and the House 95-3, with the bulk of the opposition having to do with concern about costs for landlords and questions as to whether the detectors were really necessary for rental homes that use electrical rather than gas heating.
State Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, was one of the 10 no votes in the Senate because of those concerns. He said last week that he saw some good in the bill, but wasn't sure about some of the particulars.
"Somebody's got to pay for it," he said. "And are they really necessary for all apartments?"
Roger Wilson, president of the Yakima Valley Landlords Association, had similar concerns. But he doesn't see the new law as a big problem.
"I wasn't necessarily against it," he said last week. "It's just kind of like having a smoke detector. ... It's not really that expensive; we buy them in bulk. It's kind of a hassle, but we have had a lot of time, a couple of years, to phase them in."
Neither the city of Yakima nor Yakima County has plans to conduct inspections of existing rental units. Joe Caruso, who oversees code enforcement for the city, said the responsibility lies with the landlords, who would have insurance liability to worry about if they failed to install detectors.
Yakima County building official Dave Saunders said the county would act if tenants called and said their landlords had failed to comply. Caruso said he isn't yet sure how the city would respond to such a call.
"But I know the responsibility falls back on the owners," he said.
The hope among local emergency responders is that the detectors will cut into the annual fatality and emergency room statistics.
"It is definitely worth it to have," Boiselle said. "If it saves one life, it's worth it."
--Pat Muir can be reached at 509-577-7693 or [email protected].
Copyright 2012 - Yakima Herald-Republic, Wash.
