(This post was originally posted by Flaming Nora on the Coronation Street Blog January 2013, reposted to this blog with permission.)
Remember to check your carbon monoxide detectors, Corrie fans!
Story via Safelincs. When Ian Story, a self-employed joiner from Cummersdale, near Carlisle, dropped in to see has godfather, Richard Pape, on Christmas Eve, the resulting conversation probably saved his life and those of his young family.
Richard works as a fire officer and regularly gives talks on the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning. He started telling Ian about the Coronation Street storyline about a carbon monoxide incident and it led to them discussing the importance of having a carbon monoxide alarm.
Richard then decided to go ahead and order a CO alarm for his godson which was delivered a few days later. About a week after that Ian came home from work and went to bed early feeling a little unwell. Later that evening as his partner Sara McManus was feeding his twin six month old daughters she noticed that the reading on the CO alarm was going up.
When it then started beeping she turned off all appliances in the house, shut down the wood burning stove and opened the downstairs windows. She reset the alarm and it started beeping again so the couple grabbed their girls and went across the road to Ian’s mother’s house.
A subsequent visit by a chimney sweep revealed that about one and a half inches of soot had built up all the way around the inside of the stove flue, which had prevented the gases from the fire escaping. Instead, it had been silently filling their home.
If a faulty gas appliance has been identified call Gas Safe Register – 0800 408 5500 – who will give you names of registered engineers in your area. Or go to its website: www.gassaferegister.co.uk
Follow the Bluenose CorrieBlog on Twitter and Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment