A family of five that narrowly survived a carbon monoxide leak in the middle of the night is sharing their story in a bid to change B.C.’s laws
Mother Stacey Silber said she and her husband were downstairs when the silent killer struck Dec. 2.
“About midnight we heard a thud coming from my daughter’s bedroom and went to see what happened,” said mother of three Stacey Silber. “She had either fallen out of bed or maybe gotten up and fainted.“
The couple was trying to revive their daughter and two other kids when Silber’s husband fainted as well.
Carbon Monoxide (CO), a colourless, odorless gas, had filled their home and had they not gotten out in time, one or potentially all of them would not be alive to tell the story.
Silber, who was the only one in the family who did not suffer from fainting spells due to the gas, managed to get all three children and her husband out of the home by the time first responders arrived at the scene.
“I pretty much just remember waking up outside and being transported to the hospital,” said son Gavin who praised his mother’s heroism.
A leak had sprung in the house's furnace and spread the deadly gas throughout the home.
Now Silber is calling on the provincial government to legislate that every home in B.C. have a CO detector.
Only homes built after 2006 are required to have a CO detector and the law is not retroactive to homes built before then.
Ontario made carbon monoxide detectors mandatory in every home after a family of four died from CO poisoning in their home in 2008.
And while there is no legislation requiring CO detectors in most B.C. homes, Vancouver Fire Chief John McKearney supports the idea and says having one anyway is a smart plan.
“Certainly from a fire service perspective, we strongly believe in the combination of smoke detector and carbon monoxide detectors in the home—particularly where there are any gas appliances. Anything that is burning fuel can create carbon monoxide if there’s not enough fresh air,” he said.
Symptoms of CO poisoning can include dizziness, disorientation, nausea, and lightheadedness but it often happens to people without their realizing, according to McKearney.
Now after the very close call with her family, Silber wants others to learn from her family’s experience and have a detector on every level of their home.
“Check the battery. Check the expiration date. Carbon monoxide is an odorless gas that you can’t detect other than with detectors. They call it the silent killer for a reason. So it’s very critical that everyone get their detectors because it saves lives,” she said.
With files from CTV's Mi-Jung Lee
