This is a reprint of an email from Ricky--FBA Treasurer.
I am sure he won't mind.
Last weekend, we came within "a gasp of fresh air" of losing one of our leading FBA cooks and his lady.
He had bought a new trailer and was convinced there was enough ventilation to allow the cookers to run inside.
Proved to be wrong.
EMT's and all got them back functioning, but it was close.
In case anyone wants to jump on this cook for being a dummy--save it for someone else.
He is about as professional and knowledgeable as it gets and this was just a judgement error that will not be repeated.
Everyone stay alert--OK?
Email contents follow.
TIM
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This past weekend, danger reared its ugly head in the form of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. As a safety reminder to all our cook teams (we don't want to lose any of you!) here's a link you should you read, especially the link in the upper left of the page as far as Symptoms of CO Poisoning:
http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?...rts/Fact sheets/Carbon monoxide&cookie_test=1
From Professor Ed Hartwig, who taught science for many years:
The culprit, which is carbon monoxide, is not carbon dioxide. We all exhale carbon dioxide with every breath, and it is harmless. The issue with carbon monoxide is that it is attracted and bonds to hemoglobin about 200 times more readily than oxygen. The oxygen, of course is essential to life and gets transported to all our body cells by something called hemoglobin. If the hemoglobin gets bonded to the carbon monoxide and not to the oxygen, death will result fairly quickly.
Carbon monoxide is only produced by incomplete combustion of carbon compounds, in other words, fuels such as wood, charcoal, coal etc. (Just the sort of stuff we use at every competition!
For the Board.
Ricky Ginsburg
FBA Treasurer & Webmaster
The FBA Online Store is now open:
www.flbbq.org/fba_store.htm
I am sure he won't mind.
Last weekend, we came within "a gasp of fresh air" of losing one of our leading FBA cooks and his lady.
He had bought a new trailer and was convinced there was enough ventilation to allow the cookers to run inside.
Proved to be wrong.
EMT's and all got them back functioning, but it was close.
In case anyone wants to jump on this cook for being a dummy--save it for someone else.
He is about as professional and knowledgeable as it gets and this was just a judgement error that will not be repeated.
Everyone stay alert--OK?
Email contents follow.
TIM
-------------------------------
This past weekend, danger reared its ugly head in the form of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. As a safety reminder to all our cook teams (we don't want to lose any of you!) here's a link you should you read, especially the link in the upper left of the page as far as Symptoms of CO Poisoning:
http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?...rts/Fact sheets/Carbon monoxide&cookie_test=1
From Professor Ed Hartwig, who taught science for many years:
The culprit, which is carbon monoxide, is not carbon dioxide. We all exhale carbon dioxide with every breath, and it is harmless. The issue with carbon monoxide is that it is attracted and bonds to hemoglobin about 200 times more readily than oxygen. The oxygen, of course is essential to life and gets transported to all our body cells by something called hemoglobin. If the hemoglobin gets bonded to the carbon monoxide and not to the oxygen, death will result fairly quickly.
Carbon monoxide is only produced by incomplete combustion of carbon compounds, in other words, fuels such as wood, charcoal, coal etc. (Just the sort of stuff we use at every competition!
For the Board.
Ricky Ginsburg
FBA Treasurer & Webmaster
The FBA Online Store is now open:
www.flbbq.org/fba_store.htm