Jan 10, 2019 4 min read

For two months after the Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department received hundreds of dual fire-carbon monoxide detectors from Columbia Gas to give away free to borough residents, more than 100 detectors sat unclaimed in the firehouse.

But within two days of a man being found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in his Canonsburg apartment, fire Chief Tim Solobay said they were gone.

“It’s unfortunate that a tragedy has to happen before everyone wakes up,” he said.

To replenish the stock, Solobay said Columbia Gas pulled together an additional $3,000 for the purchase of more detectors, after donating $8,500 in October. First Alert, which provided detectors to Columbia Gas at half price in October, also called Solobay to offer up more detectors after hearing about 20-year-old Brendan K. Downey’s death Monday.

Police were called to Downey’s Grace Avenue apartment building after he had not been heard from for several days. He was found dead, and four residents of two other apartments in the buiding also had been sickened by carbon monoxide. The batteries of the detector in Downey’s apartment had been taken out.

Solobay said the fire department should have hundreds more detectors ready to be distributed within the next 10 days. Just like for the city’s first giveaway on Halloween, each family will be limited to one detector, which Solobay suggests they place near their furnace or hot water tank. But he advises families to purchase additional detectors for the hallway of each level of their homes, as well as each bedroom.

And if a detector starts beeping, he urges families to call emergency responders.

“For God’s sake, don’t pull the batteries out of the thing,” Solobay said. “If they’re going off, they’re going off for a reason.”

Nancy Gregory, who lives in Canonsburg with her husband, found this out the hard way.

Nancy couldn’t figure out why her husband, Ed, was so tired all the time.

“He’s in the chair and he’s sleeping and sleeping,” she said. “And I’m thinking, is this part of the aging process? Is this really normal?”

But Nancy noticed a pattern: Each time Ed left their house, he would perk right up.

Then, the couple stopped by the firehouse on Halloween – the same day as their wedding anniversary – to pick up a free detector. Shortly after the Gregory’s installed the detector in their basement, it started going off. That’s when Nancy noticed that the vent pipe leading from their hot water tank to their chimney was hanging loose. It had rusted through.

“If it hadn’t been for the detector going off and the pipe falling off the chimney, we probably would have had an ambulance taking us to the hospital or the morgue or something,” Nancy said.

Columbia Gas spokeswoman Sarah Perry said she hears the same story again and again from the company’s older customers. The signs of carbon monoxide poisoning – fatigue, confusion, memory loss and loss of coordination – can be confused for other illnesses. And those who are homebound are at an even greater risk of failing to recognize these symptoms for what they are.

Now is the time of year when the fire department starts receiving more carbon monoxide-related calls, said Solobay. As the days get colder, families begin turning on their furnaces and sealing off their homes from the winter chill. But before they take this step, Solobay advises families to get their furnaces, hot water tanks and chimneys tested for proper ventilation.

Nancy said it had been years since she and her husband had their hot water tank tested.

“You know, if it’s not broke, you don’t fix it, and as long as you got hot water, you think, gee, everything’s good,” she said “But you gotta check.”