What travelers should know about carbon monoxide safety as spring break ramps up

As millions of Americans travel for spring break getaways, some may face an invisible danger. Carbon monoxide poisoning could be a risk at hotels or vacation rentals.

You can’t see or smell carbon monoxide gas, but it’s the leading cause of poisoning deaths in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 400 Americans die each year “from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning not linked to fires.”

Whether leaking from a faulty appliance or a fireplace, the fumes can fill every room as you sleep.

“It’s considered the silent killer,” said Sean Malloy, field chief of the Evanston Fire Department in Illinois.

Travel safety tips

Experts suggest making sure your hotel room or rental is equipped with at least one carbon monoxide detector.

“You’re going to want one at least on every floor as well as near bedrooms and in the hallways outside bedrooms,” Malloy said, which is also recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

If the alarm goes off in your home, hotel or vacation rental, experts say to get out of the building immediately.

“If I’m in my apartment, Airbnb, wherever I’m staying and the alarm goes off, I know that we’re getting about 30 parts per million carbon monoxide,” Malloy said.

Both Airbnb and Vrbo post on their website whether or not they have carbon monoxide alarms installed in units. Even so, the safest move is to pack one of your own when you travel. Consider taking a portable detector so you can walk around your rental unit and test to make sure the air is safe to breathe.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning 

Data shows firefighters responded to more than 4,000 carbon monoxide incidents at hotels, motels and resorts between 1999 and 2020. More than 1,000 people have been hurt and at least two dozen have died, according to the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

In recent years, deaths of American tourists in Mexico and the Bahamas have been linked to carbon monoxide leaks.

Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning may include:

• Headache
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Weakness
• Chest pain
• Confusion

“We might just have a headache, feel nauseous, have something going on, feeling dizzy, where we just think we might be getting sick, and it’s actually carbon monoxide that’s causing it,” Malloy explained.

But Malloy adds you could not have any symptoms at all.

“You’re not going to know it’s there, and what it’s going to do is it’s going to replace that oxygen in your blood,” Malloy said.

Ash-har Quraishi

Ash-har Quraishi is a consumer correspondent based in Chicago. He is an Emmy Award-winning journalist with more than 25 years of local, national, international and investigative reporting experience. His work has been featured on CNN, Al Jazeera, The PBS NewsHour, A&E, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and in The New York Times.