Winter begins to arrive and millions of French people start to turn on the heating on the way home. But beware: with freezing temperatures and the looming energy crisis, the risk of carbon monoxide claiming new victims is very real.
Every year several people die from poisoning with this colourless, odorless and toxic gas. Many are intoxicated and do not feel well. This weekend, in La Manche, while celebrating mass in the Saint-Martin de Brécey church, several parishioners were rescued by firefighters because they were victims of this gas.
These poisonings are usually caused by the start-up of defective or inadequate heating devices for the home. “Either because they are in poor condition, or because they have been poorly maintained,” heating engineer Laurent Schaupp explains to BFMTV.
But “any fireplace, any stove, any malfunctioning auxiliary heater can give this risk,” said Dr. Claude Bronner in October 2021.
sometimes dramatic consequences
Therefore, the maintenance of these materials must be scrupulous, because the consequences of carbon monoxide poisoning can be dramatic.
“We can distinguish two types of poisoning. ‘Chronic’, where people will have headaches, vomiting, dizziness; and acute poisoning, where people will potentially lose consciousness, or even fall into a coma that can go up to ‘al To die'”. ‘, explains Sébastien Rossi, Fire Commander, head of the Operations department at SDIS 67.
To reduce the risk of poisoning, it is recommended to sweep the flue pipes of fireplaces or stoves twice a year and have electrical appliances checked every year. Or to ventilate the rooms of your home for at least ten minutes a day.
Source: BFM TV
