Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas. It is a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion from devices such as furnaces, pool heaters, automobiles, and gas ranges. Other devices and appliances may emit CO if they malfunction, are blocked, or are used improperly.
CO poisoning is the second most common cause of non-medicinal poisonings death. According to the CDC accidental CO poisonings account for 50,000 emergency department visits and 430 deaths each year in the U.S.
To date, there is no federal requirement for the installation of CO alarms in the lodging industry (hotels and motels), and only 14 states require installation of CO alarms in hotels and motels under statute (www.ncsl.org). There are currently no requirements for carbon monoxide education and/or training of hotel owners and staff.
CO incidents in the lodging industry are not currently tracked by any official government organization. REM is using data from two sources to generate the map and list of incidents below.
The Jenkins Foundation maintains a list of verified incidents based on reports obtained via media accounts and publicly accessible documents.
The National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) collects data from fire departments across the U.S. and is a “reporting standard that fire departments use to uniformly report on the full range of their activities, from fire to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to severe weather and natural disasters.” REM has utilized the 1999-2018 NFIRS databases to identify Fire Department calls occurring at properties with use type 449 (Commercial hotel or motel) and incident types 424 (Carbon monoxide incident). The number of hotel CO incidents identified were only second to those in restaurants or cafeteria property types. This data has not yet been verified independent of the NFIRS system. R.E.M has published its research on this topic. The article, Analyzing the National Fire Incident Reporting System to Identify Carbon Monoxide Incidents in the U.S. Lodging Industry is open source and available for download.
Both the Jenkins Foundation and NFIRS data is shown in the map below. The Jenkins Foundation data is shown in Red, and the NFIRS data is shown in Blue. By default, both data sets (NFIRS and The Jenkins Foundation) are plotted simultaneously; the data source can be selected to view only one or the other data sets if needed. Specific incident details are available about each incident by selecting the indicator on the map. This data is continuously updated as new incidents are identified.
Total Incidents: 4,604*
Total Deaths: 166
Total Injuries: 2,505
*4,207 incidents based on NFIRS data. The Jenkins Foundation has identified 397 incidents. The NFIRs data set does not track civilian injuries or deaths caused by CO incidents, the data indicates basic life support was administered during 33 incidents and advanced life support was administered during 27 incidents. Twelve incidents indicated persons were transported from the scene in an ambulance or other apparatus. The injury and death data provided in the summary above the map are based on The Jenkins Foundation Data. Updated 3/21/2023
