By Carolyn P. Smith
Belleville News-Democrat (Illinois)
Copyright 2007 Belleville News-Democrat

EAST ST. LOUIS — Each of the four firehouses in East St. Louis is getting carbon monoxide detection units because a grant the Fire Department has received.

The Daniel and Henry Co. and the Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. announced Monday that the department would receive a $5,095 grant to buy detectors

Fire Chief William H. Fennoy beamed with pride as he talked about what the grant means to the department.

"We used to have to wait on the probationary firefighter to let us know whether it was safe to enter a structure. If he came back out, we knew we could go in," Fennoy joked.

On the serious side, Fennoy said: "The purchase of this equipment along with the use of calibrated electronic monitors allows us to confidently determine the safety of the occupants' breathing while improving our level of service to the community. We are extremely grateful to Daniel and Henry and the Fireman's Fund for the generous donation."

Fennoy said East St. Louis firefighters donated $2,000 to insure the department would be able to purchase four of the better detectors.

Richard Gaines, vice president of Daniel and Henry Co., said the equipment will put "one of the finest fire departments in the region on the cutting edge."

Firefighter Khari Sharp said the detectors are going to be extremely useful and will help to save lives.

"We had a call at the Roosevelt Homes recently where a woman and her three kids were inside of an apartment where the carbon monoxide was determined to be 30 parts per million. That was lethal," he said.

Reports that the firehouses were getting detectors was the best news Aaliyah Barber said she could hear.

Barber lost her 4-year-old son, Zakir Hameed, and 2-year-old daughter, Amani Hameed, in 2003 to carbon monoxide, a silent and odorless killer.

Barber's boyfriend, Maurice Lewis, pulled into the garage at the couple's home in Belleville, left the car running in the garage with the door shut, went into the residence and fell asleep.

Through tears, Barber recalled-that Thanksgiving Day.- She woke up at 10 a.m. feeling sick. The home was smoky.-And, when she tried to wake her children and boyfriend, she learned they had died.