Snow Bank Causes Carbon Monoxide Scare for Wayland Family

The Wayland Fire Department said drifted snow was to blame for a potentially deadly carbon monoxide situation over the weekend.

On Saturday morning at 8:30, Wayland firefighters responded to 100 Draper Road where they found a father and two young boys waiting for them outside their home.

Wayland Fire Capt. David Houghton said the Wayland Fire Department was responding to a call about an alarm sounding and an odor of natural gas in the area. When firefighters entered the home through the garage, their carbon monoxide readers quickly registered dangerous levels of the odorless, but deadly gas.

The fire department notified the gas company, Houghton said, and turned off the gas outside the home before donning full protective clothing, including self-contained breathing apparatuses, to re-enter the house on a search for hazards and to open windows for ventilation.

But there was no immediate sign of a cause for the ultra high CO readings ...

That is until firefighters noticed that the home's furnace vented through the wall in the front of the house instead of up the chimney.

A quick dig through more than 4 feet of snow revealed a completely blocked vent, sending waves of carbon monoxide to back into the house.

"Although the end of winter may be near, the snow coming off the roof not only can block these vents but also can damage gas meters like what happened at Weston Fire Station 2 a couple of weeks ago," Houghton explained.

Houghton explained that Nicole's Law, which went into effect in 2006, requires residential structures in the state to be equipped with carbon monoxide detectors.

According to the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries, "the law is named after 7-year-old Nicole Garofalo who died in January 2005 when a heating vent in her house was blocked by snow drifts, allowing carbon monoxide to accumulate in the home."

"The good news is that this family had proper working carbon monoxide detectors and called the fire department and left the house right away, avoiding what could have been a tragedy," Houghton said. "People need to keep an eye on the snow blocking this type of vent and from encapsulating their gas meters."

Houghton reminded residents that Daylight Saving Time, which began Sunday morning, is a traditional time to "change their clocks and to change their batteries" in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.