Bob CollinsA Brainerd, Minnesota, rental housing inspector is a hero for doing his/her job, demanding that a landlord install the carbon monoxide detector required by Minnesota law in the apartment of a couple.
If he/she hadn’t, one or all of them would be dead, the Fargo Forum says.
Toni Jonak says the alarm went off at 1:30 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. At first, she and her fiance wondered if there something wrong with the alarm.
There wasn’t, the Forum says.
The family drove to the nearby home of Jonak’s mother, Brenda, to drop off Anthony. They called the Brainerd Fire Department and met responders at their house.
It was a good thing they left, Jonak said. The CO levels measured high enough that the occurrence likely would’ve left one, if not all, dead, she said.
The CO was at dangerous levels near the furnace room. It was likely caused during a furnace inspection a few months ago, Jonak said. It was left turned up all the way, so it was working double what it should have.
Despite the scare, Fiebelkorn says his family is lucky.
Lucky that the detector was put in just a couple of months prior and lucky that Jonak’s sister, whose room is right next to the furnace room, was out of town that night. Jonak is convinced had she been home, she would’ve had the highest exposure.
State law requires carbon monoxide detectors in all apartments, effective Aug. 1, 2009.
(h/t: Ann Arbor Miller)
