‘The only way you’re going to know if you have an incident is if you have that detector’: What Lehigh Valley residents should know about carbon monoxide poisoning, how to prevent it

April Gamiz/The Morning Call

Rows of smoke detectors and combination smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are for sale Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, at Albright's Hardware & Garden Center in Allentown. Each year, more than 400 Americans die from unintentional poisoning not linked to fires, more than 20,000 visit the emergency room, and more than 4,000 are hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

April Gamiz/The Morning Call

Two days before Christmas, as temperatures across the Lehigh Valley plunged into a deep freeze, the electricity went out in a Northampton County man’s home.

To power his appliances, 71-year-old Joel S. Kotulka fired up a generator in his garage — a mistake that would cost him his life.

Kotulka was found unresponsive Christmas Day in the garage of his home in the 300 Block of Old Allentown Road, Bushkill Township, where the generator was running, according to Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek. His death was attributed to carbon monoxide toxicity, and the manner of death was ruled an accident.

Although the Valley experienced above-average temperatures over the past week, the weather is expected to again turn frigid. As residents prepare to crank their heat, officials are working to spread awareness of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning, educating residents about how to best avoid an accidental death.

Each year, carbon monoxide poisoning kills 480 people and sends another 15,200 people to hospital emergency rooms, according to the American Red Cross. Inhaling the gas can cause shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, lightheadedness or headaches. High levels can cause death within minutes.

“The one thing everyone can do, and hopefully everyone is doing, is we preach the carbon monoxide detectors,” Allentown fire Capt. John Christopher said. “Carbon monoxide itself is colorless, odorless, tasteless — the only way you’re going to know if you have an incident is if you have that detector.”

Late last year, 32 adults and children were treated at Valley hospitals after a carbon monoxide leak at Happy Smiles Learning Center in Allentown. Testing showed a gas concentration of 700 parts per million, more than three times the threshold that can cause death. The leak was attributed to malfunctioning heating exacerbated by blocked vents.

Reached by phone Thursday, the owner of the day care declined to comment, referring all inquiries to an attorney.

There have been less than a dozen accidental deaths over the last seven years linked to carbon monoxide poisoning in Lehigh County, county Coroner Daniel A. Buglio said. While uncommon, instances of accidental death due to carbon monoxide toxicity do occur in the Valley, oftentimes during colder months.

During 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, a Lower Macungie Township woman died from the fumes from a portable gas generator left running in the garage attached to her home. Before that, a 63-year-old South Carolina man was killed in 2008 after an exterior plastic canopy for a masonry project caused carbon monoxide from hot water heaters to back up into an Upper Macungie Township hotel. Four other hotel guests were sickened.

“We try to show people that carbon monoxide deaths are very preventable,” Buglio said. “And I think our local fire departments, emergency management — every agency in Lehigh County, are very good at doing that.”

Preparedness and maintenance can go a long way to prevent a death from carbon monoxide, experts say. It’s important to check appliances and any associated vents, chimneys and exhausts each year.

“Your precautions lay in your preparedness,” Christopher said.

While purchasing and installing carbon monoxide detectors are often the first step residents can take to prevent a fatal accident, maintaining those detectors is also important.

“With all your detectors, they all have a test switch test button and you should be testing those monthly to make sure they’re in working order,” Christopher said. “I think we tend to forget about that with the extended life batteries.”

There are also options for detectors with 10-year sealed batteries, which can be cost-effective, he said. Renters should check their lease to see if their landlord is responsible for maintaining detectors.

And, it’s important to be cognizant of recalls and detectors found not to function properly.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in September warned consumers that HECOPRO digital display carbon monoxide detectors were failing to detect the poisonous gas.

“Carbon monoxide sensitivity tests performed on the detectors found that they failed to alert when exposed to pre-determined concentrations of carbon monoxide (400 ppm), in violation of relevant safety standards,” according to the agency. “If a consumer installs a CO detector that does not alert to the presence of carbon monoxide, and carbon monoxide enters the home, the consumer will not be warned of the presence of this harmful gas, making injury or death very likely.”

Officials urged residents with these detectors in their homes to dispose of them and install new ones.

Because detectors are cheaper than two decades ago, firefighters are now more often called for false alarms, Christopher said. But he’s OK with that.

“The reason being is it’s just that more people are getting the detectors,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t think there are more incidents. It’s just that detectors are more readily available.”

Officials recommend installing a carbon monoxide detector on each floor of living space. For households that may only have one, Christopher recommended it be placed near a bedroom, or somewhere it will wake up sleeping residents.

And, if using a generator during severe weather, placement is important to ensure proper ventilation, he explained.

“They have an exhaust. They’re going to be leaving out carbon monoxide,” Christopher said. “So you want to be careful where you put them.”

If a carbon monoxide detector goes off in a home, it’s best to evacuate, he said.

“We’ll go through and we’ll hopefully mitigate the problem, find out where it’s coming from, shut down either the appliance or the heating unit or whatever is causing it,” Christopher said. “But you want to treat it just as this as a smoke alarm. You want to get out of the house to safety and call us. We’ll come out and we’ll do our thing.”

Morning Call reporter Molly Bilinski can be reached at [email protected].

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