Detector Directs Hope Mills Woman Away From Carbon Monoxide Danger

JoAnn Newcomb says the small device is the best thing she has ever bought. The carbon monoxide detector began going off Wednesday night. She thought it was broken, so she pulled out the battery. The next morning she felt sick.

"I started getting real light-headed, and then I got just a little tinge of a headache. And then, of course, as I stayed there during the hours of the morning, it progressed more and more," Newcomb says.

Newcomb put the battery back in and the detector went off again. At that point, she called the fire department and they told her to get out of the house.

Sure enough, the house was full of carbon monoxide. The meter registered 51 parts per million of carbon monoxide -- 30 parts can be fatal.

Authorities say Newcomb's clothes dryer was the culprit. "We found that there was a gas-fired appliance in the house that was vented to the underside of the structure," explains Hope Mills Fire Chief Lee Sudia. "When they used it, it actually pumped carbon monoxide into the structure."

Newcomb was checked out at a local hospital. She is fine, and says she will never live without a carbon monoxide detector.

Carbon monoxide detectors usually cost between $20 and $70 and can be purchased at hardware and discount stores.