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Rush to snag CO detectors to comply with provincial law leaves some store shelves empty

THUNDER BAY -- City residents have been rushing to stores to buy carbon monoxide detectors to comply with a new law, leaving some store shelves empty.
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Arthur Street Canadian Tire store manager Logan Hebert says they are expecting more carbon monoxide detectors to arrive every day this week. (Jodi Lundmark, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY -- City residents have been rushing to stores to buy carbon monoxide detectors to comply with a new law, leaving some store shelves empty.

“Right after it was broadcasted on (April) 15, the CO law was in effect, we had an instant, overwhelming amount of people come in all at once and deplete our shelves,” said Logan Hebert, manager of the Arthur Street Canadian Tire store.

“What is really great though is the residents of Thunder Bay are taking this new law very seriously,” he said.

Last Wednesday, it became mandatory in Ontario for any home with a fireplace, attached garage or fuel burning appliance to have carbon monoxide detectors.

The new provincial law mandates that the CO detectors must be placed outside of any sleeping area. The fine for not complying with the law is $360.

Hebert said the store went through 200 to 300 detectors in a matter of days and they put in emergency orders for up to 400 more.
They received a small number Monday and will have new inventory every day this week.

“Although our shelves are empty, we do have new inventory on the way, on trucks as we speak and we’ll be able to fulfill the needs in coming days,” said Hebert.

Other stores in the city were also low on stock with only the higher-end detectors on the shelves on Monday. However, most were expecting new inventory overnight.

SPI Health and Safety said they also saw a rush of people looking for detectors after the law came into effect last week and fire services business development head Lawrence Prystanski it’s similar to when the smoke alarms became mandated.

The company brought in 2,000 CO detectors into their Ontario stores in preparation and Prystanski said the alarms are important because any death caused by carbon monoxide poisoning is unnecessary.

“With these you have a variety of protection available out there and people are under the assumption, it’s just a wood stove that’s going to cause CO but it could be a furnace, a faulty heat exchanger, items like that,” he said.


 





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