The New York state Office of Fire Prevention and Control (OFPC) is working to ensure homeowners are aware of the hazards of carbon monoxide and the new state law, known as Amanda’s Law, which as of February 22 requires all residences, both new and existing, to have carbon monoxide alarms installed.
The law 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 poisoning is the number one cause of poisoning deaths in the United States, as more than 2,100 people die from CO poisoning every year.”

 

 

Carbon monoxide can be produced when burning fuel such as gasoline, charcoal, propane, natural gas, kerosene, oil, wood or coal. If any flammable or combustible material burns incompletely, carbon monoxide is produced. Carbon monoxide can kill in minutes or hours depending on the level of carbon monoxide in the air.
Homes built before January 1, 2008, will be permitted to have battery-powered alarms, while homes built after that date will need to have the alarms hard-wired in. Although specific requirements differ slightly for new and existing residences, the intent of the law is to help save lives from a silent, odorless and colorless killer.
The most frequently asked questions about the law concern the requirements for existing one- and two-family homes. Now these homes will be required to have at least one CO alarm installed on the lowest story having a sleeping area.