The Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Succos. We would like to provide some fire safety tips for the upcoming Jewish holiday season, which includes three 3-day periods. One of the most important issues, is stoves and ovens being left on. In each case, stoves cannot be turned off from the beginning of the holiday, on Wednesday evening, to the end of Shabbat causing a potential buildup of Carbon Monoxide in your residence.
Carbon Monoxide is an odorless, colorless and potentially deadly gas causing headaches, dizziness, and redness in the face, nausea, and flu like symptoms.
We are stressing this because earlier this year 2011, the Teaneck Fire Department had this occur in the heavily Orthodox community of Teaneck, NJ during the two-day holiday (Wednesday-Thursday) of Shavuot in June in which 13 people were taken to hospitals Thursday morning with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning from stoves that had been on since Tuesday evening. Fortunately, the injuries were not serious and most of the victims were quickly treated and released. They noted that the risk is intensified because modern houses are better insulated with fewer air leaks than in the past and with the air conditioning on, windows are kept closed.
Because of those dangers, we and the Orthodox Union’s Safe Homes, Safe Shuls, Safe Schools initiative issue warnings before holidays, such as Passover and Chanukah, when the use of fire is part of the tradition. With the three-day observances, the risks of CO poisoning are now an area of concern. We urge families to replace their Smoke/Carbon Monoxide alarm batteries prior to the holidays and provide some guidelines for carbon monoxide safety:
• All homes must have working CO detectors. We recommend the electric plug in models with a display and battery backup or battery operated ones. A basic unit is adequate however. We recommend at least one on each level.
• IMMEDIATELY CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT OR 911 IF YOUR SMOKE/CO ALARM GOES OFF! The fire department will respond quickly to check homes with multi-gas meters and remove the CO.
• Your house should have the hood above your stove vented to the outside. A hood that vents back into the kitchen will not help reduce CO.
• An alternate to the stove is an electric hot plate with a timer to shut on and off, UL listed, which has no flame, so does not produce CO.
• An electric crock pot, UL listed, is another alternative, which is insulated and reduces the chance of someone burning themselves.
• You should have a one-foot non-combustible area around the stove and crock-pot.
• NEVER use an extension cord with these devices! They require too many amps and could cause a fire. The above devices should be plugged directly into an outlet.
• If you must operate a stove, leave a window open near the stove at least one fist (approximately 4 inches), with a second window open at the opposite side of the house. This will allow some cross ventilation and a supply of fresh air.
• An electric stove with a warming drawer is another solution. This would keep food warm without generating CO.
• A future solution would be an electric stove that would turn on and off during the Sabbath and holidays as needed. The community is always looking for manufacturers who are willing to work with us.
As you continue to prepare for the holidays besides the above-mentioned safety issues we ask that you keep the following in mind:
1. Candles – As candles are set up keep draperies and other combustible materials away and extinguish candle(s) when leaving the house. While lighting candles make sure an adult supervises or assists any child lighting them.
2. Heaters – Make sure any heating device is UL listed and approved. If you must use an electric heater or other type of space heater make sure it meets the proper clearances and ventilation as required by the manufacturer and keep away from combustible materials such as paper, bedding materials, drapes, and furniture. Also make sure it has a tip over feature in case it gets knocked over it shuts off.
3. Power – Do not overload outlets or run extension cords through doors or windows to the succah.
4. Succahs – As you install the succah please be aware that the vegetation you use for the top of the succah can be extremely dry. We would ask that you use a safer top covering for the succah if at all possible. TLS.
as a fellow lakewoocardian i have many observant neighbors. if one of them were to ask, i would have no issue with coming in to turn on/off a stove so that carbon monoxide poisoning should not be an issue.
Don’t walk to your nearest firehouse or police station to find help Diall 911
tell them you have a CO Alarm or Fire alarm sounding in your house. it gets us moving quicker..plus you don’t know how long if your family is still in the house while you walk to the police station or to a firehouse..remember most firehouses in Lakewood are not manned 24/7 so getting the police, fire and EMS there sooner is IMPORTANT
It is so amazing to see how many people there are who care to help keep a Jewish holiday festive yet safe. When I was a child 30 years ago in Lakewood we used to get neighbors calling PD on our Succos….today as much as we don’t acknowledge it we have some very understanding neighbors and authorities!
The most important point which is not mentioned anywhere – the buildup of carbon monoxide is caused by the blech. If you don’t use a blech, you won’t have any problems. I am speaking from experience, our alarm went of on Rosh Hashana, and the cop told us that it was because of the “metal sheet” on top of the stove. Once we took off the blech, the alarm did not go off again. I don’t know if this is a safe option for families that have little kids around, but if you can leave the blech off, that will solve all the problems.
#4—That is most certainly not the problem, carbon monoxide is a bi-product of combustion, and incomplete combustion, covering the flames with a metal apparatus is not what causes it. Using a little common sense, and opening a few windows approximately 4 inches will do the trick, have a great holiday.