Staci Smith, Gilpin County. To enhance community safety, Colorado Natural Gas (CNG) recently donated thirty-six carbon monoxide detectors to the Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office.

These detectors will be distributed by the Central City Fire Department, Timberline Fire Protection District, and Gilpin Ambulance Authority to citizens throughout Black Hawk and Central City. Additionally, these emergency services agencies will provide educational materials and install the units for free to local community members.

“We see this as a way of giving back to the community,” said Joe Wilkes, CNG’s EHS Manager. “With proper installation, these carbon monoxide detectors offer an extra level of safety to residents of the community and will be extremely beneficial to those in the Gilpin County service area in guarding against carbon monoxide exposure.”

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) more than two-thirds of Americans use gas, wood, kerosene or another fuel as their home’s major heat source. Per the CPSC, carbon monoxide is called the “invisible killer” because it is a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. Carbon monoxide is produced anytime a fuel is burned, and potential sources include gas or oil furnaces, water heaters, space heaters, clothes dryers, barbecue grills, fireplaces, wood-burning stoves, gas ovens, generators and car exhaust fumes.

Gilpin County Sheriff, Kevin Armstrong said, “The best way to protect yourself and your family from carbon monoxide poisoning is to buy a carbon monoxide, sometimes referred to as CO, detector for your home. A properly working carbon monoxide detector can provide an early warning before deadly gases build up to dangerous levels.”

Colorado Natural Gas would like to remind people that installing a carbon monoxide detector does not eliminate the need to have a smoke alarm in the home as carbon monoxide detectors do not detect smoke, and smoke alarms do not sense carbon monoxide.

(Originally published in the April 1, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)