With the colder months knocking on the door, carbon monoxide may make its way into homes as furnaces start to see wider use.
Carbon monoxide is known as the "silent killer" because it is odourless and colourless.
Because of that, the number one way of protecting yourself from potential risks is to have a carbon monoxide detector.
High River Fire Chief Cody Zebedee explains that while the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning is always present, it increases in the colder months.
"We tend to see it more so in our heating and cooling seasons. However, it could be year-round depending upon the heating systems in buildings. Take a building that has a boiler that heats the domestic hot water. That appliance is heating all year round. But certainly, when we start to get into our heating season, we start to see potential for more carbon monoxide. Typically carbon monoxide is coming from things like our furnaces, hot water tanks, and any of those gas-fired appliances," Zebedee explained.
When appliances are operating normally, risks are at a minimum. But, if your gas-fired appliances have cracks in its heat exchangers or vent pipes cracks, or blocked vents, the "silent killer" could start to linger in your household.
"The other piece to it is we see carbon monoxide typically go up in the winter time, or alarms for it anyways, when people start their cars in their attached garage and leave the car running. That carbon monoxide, even though the (garage door) is open will come back into the house," he added.
To avoid that dangerous situation, Zebedee recommends backing your car out of the garage and leaving it on your driveway to warm up (as long as the vehicle's doors are locked).
With carbon monoxide detectors being the primary way to be made aware of the presence of the gas, Zebedee suggests having one on every floor in the house for optimal safety.
"It's super important to have those there and to make sure they are within date because they do have expiry dates much like smoke detectors. In the town here quite a lot of our smoke detectors were changed out here in 2013. So now we have just gone past that 10-year lifespan of those detectors. What we really want to do is to encourage people to check those detectors and check the dates on them. If they are older than 10 years I recommend replacing those detectors," Zebedee said.
He also recommends checking the date on the back of the detector to know what each beep means. When they start to reach their end of life they tend to beep every five minutes, but he said to follow the instructions on the back for proper protocols.
According to Stats Canada, low levels of carbon monoxide poisoning can cause tiredness, headaches, shortness of breath, impaired motor functions such as muscle weakness, and partial or total loss of function of a body part.
Higher levels of carbon monoxide exposure can lead to dizziness, chest pain, poor vision, and difficulty thinking. High levels of carbon monoxide can lead to convulsions, loss of consciousness, coma, and even death.
If you are ever worried that your carbon monoxide detector isn't working properly, reach out to the High River Fire Department, as they can come and check it out.
If you feel that you could have carbon monoxide poisoning or you wonder if it's in your home, call 911. If you are uncertain about which number to call first, always use 911 as it could save your life, and the Fire Department would rather show up and find out there are no issues than having you get hurt or worse.