The Pitkin County commissioners Tuesday directed the county’s chief building official to bring them an emergency ordinance that would amend the county building code and require carbon monoxide (CO) detectors on every floor of new homes.
The new regulations will also likely include specific requirements about the location of CO detectors within a home.
The current city of Aspen and county building codes adopted in 2003 require a single CO detector in a residence over 500 square feet, but does not go further. That standard, however, still goes beyond national building codes, which typically do not require CO detectors.
Tony Fusaro, the chief building official, is more than happy to comply with the commissioners’ request.
“I would like to see it done as an emergency ordinance and get it done quickly,” Fusaro said in an interview after the meeting.
The commissioners also discussed making sure there are CO detectors in all the rental units managed by the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority.
During the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, Fusaro choked up when discussing the issue. He was distraught over the death of the four members of the Lofgren family from Denver, who were found dead in a vacation home just outside of Aspen on Nov. 28, the apparent victims of high levels of carbon monoxide in the home.
He was consoled by Pitkin County Commissioner Jack Hatfield who told him, “This is a very sad situation.”
The deaths of Parker and Caroline Lofgren and their two young children is under investigation by the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators are checking vents related to the house’s snowmelt and heating system. The Lofgrens were found in a bedroom two floors above the crawlspace where the mechanical equipment for the home was located.
“We do more than we are required to, but is that enough?” Fusaro said. “In this case, it was not enough. This has been a hard lesson.”
The home on Popcorn Lane four miles east of Aspen where the Lofgren family perished was built under the 2003 code, but it has not yet been determined if the home had a working carbon monoxide detector or not.
The 2003 code does require that CO detectors be “hard-wired” into the electrical system of a home and not be only battery-powered.
A certificate of occupancy for the home was issued but building inspectors do not normally create a checklist that could reveal whether a CO detector was specifically observed as part of the final permit process, according to Fusaro.
“One was required in that house,” Fusaro said, referring to a carbon monoxide detector.
Fusaro and his counterpart at the city of Aspen, Stephen Kanipe, were already working on changes to the 2003 building code to bring to the city and county early next year. And they are meeting today with the local fire marshall and other law enforcement officials to discuss changes in the building codes in regard to carbon monoxide detectors.
“I just want to pull out that part of the code that relates to carbon monoxide detectors and get it defined and get it into effect as quickly as possible,” Fusaro said.
Fusaro said he expects that both the city and county would adopt the same regulations.
Aspenite Elizabeth Milias was friends with the Lofgren family and spent time with them the day of their deaths. She has channeled her grief this week by personally urging the commissioners, the Aspen City Council, and the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority board to quickly adopt “standardized, strengthened and specific” guidelines for CO detectors.
Milias said Wednesday night that she has gotten a “wonderful reception” by the local governing bodies and feels confident that new regulations will soon be in place.
She also urged the county commissioners to begin a public awareness campaign that reaches both year-round and part-time residents.
“Awareness yields action,” Milias said.
The commissioners were open to the suggestion.
“Let’s get the word out and somehow make this a positive, so it never happens again,” said Hatfield.
Carbon monoxide is a poisonous, colorless, odorless gas formed by the incomplete combustion of carbon and can be produced by any fuel-burning appliance. It is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in North America, according to the sheriff’s office.
Carbon monoxide detectors can be purchased for under $25 and there are many models that also function as smoke detectors and will sound alarms for either smoke or high levels of CO.
Some models are battery powered, while others run on electricity and have battery backups.
If CO detectors are placed too close to appliances that give off small amounts of CO, they can sound false alarms, which sometimes leads to people dismantling them.
curtis@aspendailynews.com