HOUSTON – Houston-area doctors say carbon monoxide symptoms are hitting people across the area.
While many are desperate to cool off, there are some warnings you need to hear before using your car or a generator.
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People die every year from carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to cool or heat their homes. Nineteen people have died during the February freeze in 2021.
Local emergency responders say they’re getting a lot of calls about CO symptoms this week too.
Houston Fire Department
The Houston Fire Department says they’ve received hundreds of calls related to carbon monoxide symptoms.
Montgomery County Fire Department
Five carbon monoxide incidents came up at one station alone. All of them involved portable generators being too close to homes.
“Some did have carbon monoxide detectors and they did activate, alerting the occupants,” according to Keith Soliz, assistant fire chief.
Cy-Fair Fire Department
You can’t hear or smell it but carbon monoxide can creep into your house even before a monitor can detect it.
Lieutenant Chris Fillmore said carbon monoxide is heavy and sits closer to the ground, monitors on your ceiling may not go off until the gas is in your body causing symptoms.
“Even if it does [cause symptoms], it’s hopefully not deadly. It’s still going to have some long-lasting effects. You’re still going to have to go to the ER, get checked just for the buildup that it has in your body. Our crews are out running a lot of these calls right now. Just due to carbon monoxide exposure. This is probably what has kept us the busiest after the storm is crews responding to carbon monoxide,” Fillmore said.
The Texas Medical Association says when people are exposed to carbon monoxide it suffocates you from the inside, on a cellular level.
“Once carbon monoxide gets into the bloodstream it is better at getting into our tissues, our cells and bodies than oxygen,” said Hilary Fairbrother, MD, a Houston-area emergency medicine physician who treated patients experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning as recently as last night. “If there was a race, carbon monoxide would win every single time.” Dr. Fairbrother also chairs the Texas Medical Association (TMA) Committee on Emergency Medical Services and Trauma.
The human body cannot process carbon monoxide, and it can cause severe tissue damage - or death.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include:
- Headache
- Tingling or numbness
- Weakness, dizziness, nausea or vomiting
- Shortness of breath
- Seizure
Dr. Carrie Bakunas with UT Health works at the Memorial Hermann ER in the Texas Medical Center and she says between Monday to Wednesday, twenty people came in with carbon monoxide poisoning. All of them were related to generators.
Dr. Bakunas said they’ve also treated burns related to generators.
Generator Safety
Do not use generators close to your home.
Do not use generators close to a garage.
Even in a breezeway, a generator can create enough carbon monoxide to kill a whole family.
A generator must be 20 feet away from the house.