Copyright 2006 Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Inc.
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TELEGRAM & GAZETTE (Massachusetts)
By TARYN PLUMB
Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts)
WORCESTER, Mass. — The response to the state’s new carbon monoxide detector law has been huge — so huge, in fact, that many local hardware stores can’t keep up with the demand.
Park Avenue True Value Hardware, for instance, ran out about a week ago, and owner Paul Poirier doesn’t expect more in until next week.
“All of a sudden, hundreds of thousands of people got wind of it,” he said. “Major word got out this week, and now everybody’s panicking. It’s going to be a problem for a little while until product gets into the pipeline to fill the need.”
Nicole’s Law, a Massachusetts statute that requires homeowners to install carbon monoxide detectors in their homes, went into effect yesterday. The law was named for a 7-year-old Plymouth girl, Nicole Garofalo, who died from toxic carbon monoxide fumes in January 2005. It requires residential dwellings that contain enclosed parking or heating equipment — such as boilers, furnaces and hot water heaters — to have working carbon monoxide detectors on every habitable level.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless, tasteless gas that can create flulike symptoms such as headache, nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath, fatigue and fainting.
High levels can lead to unconsciousness or death. Poisoning can come from leaking chimneys and furnaces, back-drafting from furnaces, gas water heaters and fireplaces or automobile exhaust.
Fire departments will check for carbon monoxide alarms when homes are sold.
As a result of the shortage, however, state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan has advised local fire chiefs to defer enforcement in real estate closings if they believe owners have made a good-faith effort to install detectors.
“Fire officials and I do not want to see any scheduled real estate transactions delayed by localized shortages of inventory,” he said in a press release.
Of the sudden demand, he said, “This means that people in Massachusetts are taking this law seriously.”
Local store owners agreed and attributed the shortages to landlords buying 50 to 100 detectors at a time.
“It created quite a mess here in Massachusetts,” said Gary Anderson, store manager of The Home Depot on Gold Star Boulevard.