Be safe in 06! The Forgotten Dangers everyone faces:

[FireCracker]

Each hurricane response and recovery I am involved in carries these tragic deaths:

1. Carbon Monoxide poisoning from generators used inside or too close to windows and doors in the home. Remember to have your genset OUTSIDE the house and that includes the garage.

2. Carbon Monoxide poisoning from gas grills used inside the home. Same for sterno and charcoal grills. Follow same distance rules as above.

3. Candles: NEVER use candles for lighting, use battery powered lights or just sit in the dark . Candles contribute to many deadly fires after the hurricane. Remember your kids do not know how to handle them safely. Another poster reminds us to use battery operated CO monitors and smoke detectors.

4. DO NOT jury rig your genset into your house. If you have your main breaker on and no transfer switch is used, when the grid is switched back on it may cause a fire. In addition your genset will feed the pole transformer and will step up the 110volt output to 1000's of volts. The lineman a block away can get killed by unknowingly touching what should be a dead wire. Protect the power company linemen!

5. Heat stress can be fatal including the elderly and very young children. The elderly can get fatally overheated without realizing it. Watch for this in your neighbors.

The bad part is that each of these problems have happened in my jurisdiction in 04 and 05. Be safe in 06!

Other suggestions are always welcome.

[vbhoutex]

Thank You for these timely reminders!!!

[Cookiely]

Each hurricane response and recovery I am involved in carries these tragic deaths:

1. Carbon Monoxide poisoning from generators used inside or too close to windows and doors in the home. Remember to have your genset OUTSIDE the house and that includes the garage.

2. Carbon Monoxide poisoning from gas grills used inside the home. Same for sterno and charcoal grills. Follow same distance rules as above.

3. Candles: NEVER use candles for lighting, use battery powered lights or just sit in the dark . Candles contribute to many deadly fires after the hurricane. Remember your kids do not know how to handle them safely. Another poster reminds us to use battery operated CO monitors and smoke detectors.

4. DO NOT jury rig your genset into your house. If you have your main breaker on and no transfer switch is used, when the grid is switched back on it may cause a fire. In addition your genset will feed the pole transformer and will step up the 110volt output to 1000's of volts. The lineman a block away can get killed by unknowingly touching what should be a dead wire. Protect the power company linemen!

5. Heat stress can be fatal including the elderly and very young children. The elderly can get fatally overheated without realizing it. Watch for this in your neighbors.

The bad part is that each of these problems have happened in my jurisdiction in 04 and 05. Be safe in 06!

Other suggestions are always welcome.

Regarding heat stress its not only the elderly or young that have problems. Anyone that has had an episode of heat stroke in the past or heat exhaustion is at risk. I had a severe heat stroke when I was in my teens ( a fair redhead cooked in the sun for eight hours trying to get a tan RIGHT).
Ever since I have not been able to tolerate heat very well. A transformer exploded one evening and we were without power. By one in the morning I was hysterical because of the heat and humidity. The customer service rep at TECO realized something was wrong with me (after six calls) and sent a crew out at 2AM to fix it.