CO is called the silent killer because people cannot smell or see it and the effects of CO mimic flu-like symptoms and make people disoriented. Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarms should be installed in a central location outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home. For the best protections, interconnect all CO alarms throughout the home so that when one sounds, they all sound.

Every year, at least 420 people die in the U.S. from accidental CO poisoning. More than 100,000 people in the U.S. visit the emergency department each year due to accidental CO poisoning (source CDC).

The New York State Office of Fire Prevention & Control (OFPC) works to ensure homeowners are aware of the hazards of carbon monoxide. The state law, known as Amanda’s Law, requires all residences, both new and existing, to have carbon monoxide alarms installed. The law went into effect in 2010 and is named for Amanda Hansen, 16, of West Seneca, who was found unconscious at a friend's house in January 2009. Officials later determined she had been exposed to lethal levels of carbon monoxide in the home's basement, where she and her friend were having a sleepover. She later died at South Buffalo Mercy Hospital.

Carbon monoxide alarms save lives and carbon monoxide poisoning is the number one cause of poisoning deaths in the United States.