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Carbon monoxide risk with combustion heat sources

A regional EPA official says livestock producers need to be extra cautious with alternative heat sources during extreme cold temperatures and, in some cases, blackouts. Cody Brown, physical scientist with EPA Region 7 Air and Radiation Division in Kansas City, says any combustion equipment is a risk for carbon monoxide poisoning which can occur at even low levels.

At high levels it can be deadly, “It’s different from person to person but it also affects animals, too. And it depends on the overall health, right? So, concentrations, it also depends on the length of exposure.”

Brown says generators and any type of combustion equipment must be used cautiously,“A lot of times people put it just right outside the door and the carbon monoxide and some of those dangerous emissions from the exhaust can come right into some of those barns, even into a home.”

Carbon monoxide has no odor and cannot be seen so he says that makes it an even greater risk.