Indoor Safety Highlighted Thursday During Winter Weather Awareness Week

(KNSI) – Carbon monoxide poisoning is a silent killer that can be especially dangerous in the winter when the power goes out due to a storm.

Thursday’s Winter Weather Awareness Week theme is ‘Indoor Winter Safety,’ focusing heavily on the threat posed by the odorless gas. Meteorologist Eric Ahasic says a temporary space heater or your oven are tempting to use in a pinch if you are trying to make a generator last through the night, but they can be dangerous.

He recommends having a designated closet for warm clothing and other ways to stay warm. “Do we have a bunch of extra blankets and sweaters and stuff like that that we can put on to stay warm? It’s just kind of things like that. You want to think about these things before the lights are out and you’re scrambling to try to stay warm when it’s 20 below zero out. It’s time to think about that stuff now versus when you’re in the thick of it.”

Other tips include ensuring proper ventilation near the exhaust ports around your dryer, fireplace, and oven. Ahasic reminds people that these tips are useful not just for the interior of your home but also for your vehicle.

“In your car, too, actually. If you slide off the road…If it’s snowy out, you slide off the road, if you’re waiting for the tow truck to come, if you’re running the heater to stay warm. If your exhaust pipe in your car is blocked by snow, that carbon monoxide isn’t going anywhere, right? It’s not really filtering out the way it should, and so, it could potentially build up inside the car.”

Have a kit with some snacks, warm blankets or clothing tucked away, and a shovel in the trunk. The kit keeps you from needing to run your car as frequently, and the shovel allows you to clear your tailpipe and other places around the vehicle where snow is piled high.

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