Marcia Nelesen
The Janesville Gazette
Copyright 2007 The Janesville Gazette
JANESVILLE, Wis. — Some may say the Bladorn family is lucky.
Others may say the Bladorns made their own luck.
The family had carbon monoxide detectors in their home at 1033 Thornecrest Drive.
Dean Bladorn heard the detector going off at about 5 a.m. Monday as he left his bedroom.
He immediately called firefighters and woke his wife and two sons to make sure they were feeling no ill effects from the poisonous gas.
Jim Jensen, deputy fire chief, said the levels of gas in the house were becoming dangerous. The furnace, which was malfunctioning, eventually would have become a serious threat, he said.
Carbon monoxide poisoning is a hazard of cold weather. Furnaces can malfunction, such as in Bladorns’ case. Vents can plug, sending the gas back into the home.
Carbon monoxide is a byproduct of incomplete combustion, said Larry Grorud, fire chief.
Carbon monoxide has no taste or odor. Sometimes, if people are lucky, they feel nauseous or get headaches after breathing the gas. But other times, they simply become groggy and fall asleep.
Sometimes, if people are sleeping, they just never wake up.
Grorud recalled a carbon monoxide death in Janesville caused by a bird nest in the chimney. The furnace wasn’t venting properly, and carbon monoxide backed up into the house.
Owners of homes with high-efficiency furnaces must be on the lookout, as well.
Usually, the vent piping comes out of the side of the house near ground level.
Drifting snow can pack the outlet so the gas doesn’t blow out.
Grorud recommends owners make sure their vents remain unplugged.
And people sometimes use appliances unwisely to heat their homes, he said.
Gas stoves are intended for cooking not home heating because high levels of carbon monoxide can build up over a long period of time.
If you are alerted to carbon monoxide, Grorud said you should leave the environment immediately and call the fire department.
The department encourages people to install detectors and replace them every five years.
Bladorn concurred.
His upstairs detector didn’t go off, and he plans to replace it.
Today, the Bladorns also have a new furnace.
“It really makes (me) glad I changed those batteries and kept those alarms going,” he said.
“You just never know.”