19. Carbon Monoxide

Helen stepped outside her front door to see the weather was like. It was sunny and . That was nice, because for the past two it had been cold and rainy. It had so cold that she had had to turn heater on. She was lucky, because her heater and she could pay her heating bills.

Some in Los Angeles were not so lucky. Unable use their home heater, they placed charcoal into barbecue grill and lit it. The heat kept warm, but the carbon monoxide killed them.

This almost every winter in Los Angeles. People shut the windows tight to keep the cold out, light the charcoal. Soon enough, the oxygen in home is consumed by the open flames. The suffocates to death.

Everyone knows that smoke detectors required in Los Angeles. But many people don't about, or don't think they need, carbon monoxide . They're not expensive. A $25 investment can save family from death.

People always think that nothing will happen to them; it always happens to " other guy." So they forget to put fresh into their smoke detectors annually, and they don't to buy carbon monoxide detectors.