NFPA Journal - Spring 2021 - 20

In December, Cody and Shelby Allen, a married
firefighter couple in Colorado, died of carbon
monoxide poisoning in their home.

C A R B O N M O N OX I D E

'GENERAL
NEGLIGENCE'

A NEW FIRE PROTECTION RESEARCH
FOUNDATION REPORT HIGHLIGHTS
THE NATION'S ENDURING CO PROBLEM
By Jesse Roman
any states in the US have no rules requiring

the use of carbon monoxide (CO) detectors,
even in hotels, assembly occupancies, and
other public spaces.
That's a key finding in a new report by the
Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF). The report also
identified a variety of root causes for the problem, including
states that don't adopt statewide codes, that adopt older editions of codes that don't require CO detection, or that permit
local jurisdictions to edit out CO-related language.
The report, published in February, comes on the heels of
a widely publicized carbon monoxide incident in Colorado.
Two weeks before Christmas, Shelby and Cody Allen were

found dead on the third floor of their home in Central City,
near Denver. Shelby, 27, and Cody, 29, both worked as firefighters in Central City. A coroner ruled that the couple had
died from CO poisoning.
Carbon monoxide, or CO, is a gas known as the silent
killer. If breathed in high enough concentrations, it reduces
a person's ability to absorb oxygen, eventually leading to a
loss of consciousness and death, similar to suffocation. Since
CO is colorless and odorless, it's nearly impossible to detect
without an air monitor triggering an alarm. Even though this
technology has been proven to detect CO and alert residents
to take action, such alarms are not required in much of the
country, including hotel rooms.
Incidents like the Colorado deaths and thousands of others
like them have prompted advocates in recent years to call
for an increase in regulation around CO monitoring. Their
efforts have gained some momentum. The 2021 editions of
both NFPA 5000, Building Construction and Safety Code,
and NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®, included additional CO
detection requirements for several occupancies, including in
certain hotel rooms, assembly occupancies, and residential
homes. However, these generally apply only to buildings
with attached garages, rooms containing fuel-burning appliances, and spaces served by fuel-burning HVAC systems.
Information on the installation of CO detection and warning
equipment is included in NFPA 72®, National Fire Alarm and
Signaling Code®.
Advocates say much more still needs to be done. To get a
better sense of the problem and whether stricter code language is warranted, the FPRF last year undertook a project
called " Carbon Monoxide Detection and Alarm Requirements: Literature Review " to compile a list of incidents and
existing CO requirements across the US. The report noted
that deaths from CO seem to be occurring in some places
where NFPA codes do not currently require detection-for
instance, in hotel rooms that don't contain fuel-burning
appliances, but where duct leaks can still allow entry of the
deadly gas.
Aside from regulation, the biggest hurdle to lowering the
CO death rate is a lack of information, both for the public
and policymakers, the report found. " While fire-related incidents are well documented, data collection on CO poisoning
incidents is limited, " the report said, making it difficult to
substantiate regulatory changes. Education and a general
awareness among the public about the dangers of CO is also
severely lacking, it said.
The dearth of critical data, a lack of consistent regulation, and the fact that these preventable CO poisoning
deaths have persisted relatively unchanged for decades
" demonstrates ... the general negligence to the problem, "
the report concludes.
While statistics are difficult to obtain, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 400 people die each year from
CO poisoning, and another 50,000 are hospitalized. Those
numbers have remained relatively consistent over the past
two decades, according to NFPA reports.

GILPIN COUNT Y SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

Dispatches

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NFPA Journal - Spring 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Spring 2021