LOCKPORT, NY— The Pinzel family went to sleep in the New York home they share with their son feeling fine. 

Then Laurie Pinzel woke up in the middle of night late on December 27, 2016 with what she thought were “flu-like symptoms,” falling and passing out on the bathroom floor for a time.

“I figured I had just come down with the flu and went back to bed,” she recalled.

The next morning, Joe, the couple’s son, got up for work with a severe headache, waking his parents. That’s when Laurie remembered that the carbon monoxide detector had run out of batteries.

“We had planned to replace them in the morning,” she said.

Her husband John also woke with a headache. He put new batteries in the carbon monoxide detector and turned it on — immediately getting a reading of 450 ppm CO.

According to MedicineNet.com, carbon monoxide poisoning symptoms — such as nausea, headache, and fatigue — can become noticeable after CO levels become higher than 70 ppm. Exposure to CO levels above 150-200 ppm can result in disorientation, unconsciousness and even death.

The Pinzels took action immediately, getting out of their house and calling 911.

They were treated at a nearby for extremely high levels of exposure to carbon monoxide gas, spending the next two days receiving oxygen treatments in the hyperbaric chambers.

Daughter Stephanie Pinzel was able to pick up the family’s dogs and took them to Countryside Veterinary Clinic for treatment.

Everyone is fine now, but Pinzel and her family are advocating for all homeowners to make sure that they have multiple carbon monoxide detectors on each floor, including in each bedroom and the basement.

“We could have easily lost three of our six family members in one night,” Laurie Pinzel said.

According to the New York State Department of Health, 200 people in the New York alone are hospitalized every year due to carbon monoxide poisoning. 

Carbon monoxide gas is colorless and odorless, and symptoms of exposure read like common flu symptoms: headaches, nausea and severe sleepiness, as well as shortness of breath and dizziness, Niagara County Public Health Director Dan Stapleton said.

“That’s the danger — you don’t smell it, it’s invisible,” Stapleton said.

Homeowners should be extra vigilant about keeping their CO detectors updated and the batteries fresh in the winter months, as furnaces, room heaters, burning charcoal appliances and other heat sources produce CO gas.

“The exhaust from furnaces is the biggest source of accidental CO exposure,” Stapleton said. “Sometimes homes don’t have properly exhausted furnaces — they vent in the basement, which is extremely dangerous, or sometimes the furnace has not been maintained.”

Vehicles left running in an attached garage or nearby the home can also be a source of accidental CO exposure.

Gas generators also give off CO gas, and need to be kept outside, not inside of the home or inside a garage, Stapleton added.

In the Pinzels’ case, strong winds had pushed the cap on their chimney, causing it to fall into the shaft of the chimney.

“There was no way for anything to get out,” Laurie Pinzel said.

It’s also important to remember that CO detectors need to be replaced, usually either every five or 10 years. The length of use varies with detector, and homeowners can check their viability by checking the date on them.

“Over time, they do expire, so just changing the battery isn’t enough,” Stapleton said.

For Laurie Pinzel, there was a silver lining to the family’s time in the hospital. She was given an MRI, MRA and a cat scan because she hit her head on the bathroom floor.

The doctors found an aneurysm in Pinzel’s head, which she is treating with aspirin every day. In four weeks, she’ll get checked again to find out the next step.

“It’s kind of a blessing in disguise,” she said.

Lynch writes for the Lockport, New York Union—Sun Journal.

• Check or replace the batteries in your CO detector when you change the time on your clocks in spring and fall 

• Have your heating system, water heater and any gas, oil, or coal-burning appliances serviced by a professional each year 

• If you smell an odor from your refrigerator, have it serviced by an expert

• Make sure your gas appliances are vented properly 

• Have your chimney checked or cleaned each year 

• Never patch a vent pipe with tape, gum or anything else

• Never use a gas range or oven for heating

• Don’t burn charcoal indoors

• Never use a generator inside your home 

• Never use a portable gas camp stove indoors 

• CO is the number 1 cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the U.S. 

• Each year in the U.S., about 400 deaths due to carbon monoxide poisoning (not linked to fires) are reported (Source: CDC.gov)

• Each year, 20,000 Americans visit the hospital and 4,000 are hospitalized due to accidental CO exposure (CDC.gov)