Education group spreads awareness of carbon monoxide dangers
An education foundation is sharing information about the dangers of carbon monoxide in the Maritimes this week.
The Hawkins-Gignac Foundation visited the Moncton Fire Department Tuesday as part of Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week. The group is touring multiple departments and donating hundreds of detectors.
“Fifteen years ago, I lost my niece, her husband and both their children to carbon monoxide in their home in Woodstock, Ont.,” said founder John Gignac. “When I retired from the fire service, I started the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation because there was absolutely no information out there about carbon monoxide and I wanted to honour the family.”
Moncton Fire Chief Keith Guptill said the department responds to 75-to-80 carbon monoxide calls each year.
“You can’t see it, you can’t smell it and it’s silent,” Guptill said. “We’ve been on calls where a wife has called in and said, ‘My husband’s in the garage, I see him laying on the floor.’ We went to find that the person is laying there and their machine is still running.
“They didn’t realize that they were going to be overcome by carbon monoxide.”
Guptill said people should exit any building if they suspect the presence of carbon monoxide.
“If you’re at home and your whole family, all of the sudden, starts feeling the same symptoms – drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, even vomiting, any of that – they should exit the home and call 911,” he said.
Gignac recommends people get an approved carbon monoxide alarm.
The group plans to stop in Halifax on Wednesday.
For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Donald Trump picks former U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra as ambassador to Canada
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has nominated former diplomat and U.S. congressman Pete Hoekstra to be the American ambassador to Canada.
Genetic evidence backs up COVID-19 origin theory that pandemic started in seafood market
A group of researchers say they have more evidence to suggest the COVID-19 pandemic started in a Chinese seafood market where it spread from infected animals to humans. The evidence is laid out in a recent study published in Cell, a scientific journal, nearly five years after the first known COVID-19 outbreak.
This is how much money you need to make to buy a house in Canada's largest cities
The average salary needed to buy a home keeps inching down in cities across Canada, according to the latest data.
Canada's space agency invites you to choose the name of its first lunar rover
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is inviting Canadians to choose the name of the first Canadian Lunar Rover.
'My two daughters were sleeping': London Ont. family in shock after their home riddled with gunfire
A London father and son they’re shocked and confused after their home was riddled with bullets while young children were sleeping inside.
Smuggler arrested with 300 tarantulas strapped to his body
Police in Peru have arrested a man caught trying to leave the country with 320 tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants strapped to his body.
Boissonnault out of cabinet to 'focus on clearing the allegations,' Trudeau announces
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced embattled minister Randy Boissonnault is out of cabinet.
Baby dies after being reported missing in midtown Toronto: police
A four-month-old baby is dead after what Toronto police are calling a “suspicious incident” at a Toronto Community Housing building in the city’s midtown area on Wednesday afternoon.
Sask. woman who refused to provide breath sample did not break the law, court finds
A Saskatchewan woman who refused to provide a breath sample after being stopped by police in Regina did not break the law – as the officer's request was deemed not lawful given the circumstances.