Camping danger - pls read & pass on

lilaliboo1

Four people died last week while camping, in two separate incidents within two days of each other, at opposite ends of the British Isles.

One incident involved a married couple in their 40s. The other involved two friends on a fishing trip (friends of my friend). They went to sleep and never woke up.

Both incidents have left the families devastated, especially due to the sudden, unexpected and pointless nature of the deaths.

If you, or someone you know plans to go camping this year, please forward this info to them. Suggest they replace any old or battered gas equipment and purchase a CO detector.

New camping gas stoves and CO detectors that are suitable for both home and travel use can each be purchased for as little as £20 or £30.

Danger signs include:

Spillage stains, soot and discolouring around water heaters and cookers
Flames that burn yellow or orange when they should be blue
Unusual smells are obvious signs that appliances may have been neglected or haven't been checked properly

debbiet

Hi
THanks for that, we're just about to emabark on our first camping trip, we were going to use hubby's old gas stove but think we'll get a new one now.

deb

alanrowell

Unless they left the equipment on when they went to sleep which is stupid to start with they wouldn't get CO poisoning.

Bigger danger is people cooking in tents, stove falls over, tent goes up in flames.

BNU_2

Good advice - but surely only applicable to caravanners?

Carbon Monoxide is only produced when the appliance is actually on and burning gas - so as long as you cook outside your tent and use an battery light when inside your tent ordinary campers should remain safe. Caravanners should perhaps cook with a door or window open as an added precaution, and make sure all gas appliances are off and the caravan aired before bed.

I am very sorry to hear of these peoples' deaths but running gas appliances in any poorly ventilated area is a danger. The amount of people I know who go from year to year without servicing/safety testing their gas boilers/fires at home astounds me, I am really surprised that it does not happen more often in people's own homes.

BNU_2

alanrowell wrote:

Unless they left the equipment on when they went to sleep which is stupid to start with they wouldn't get CO poisoning.

Bigger danger is people cooking in tents, stove falls over, tent goes up in flames.

I think we were posting at the same time here!

We saw a tent go up flames a few years ago, it was amazing how quickly it went. The site had a fire truck and it only had to cross the field - but by that time the tent was gone and the fire was almost out!

We have drilled holes through the base of our gas stove and use tent pegs to secure it to the ground - but you should never leave it unattended and never use it inside the tent or awning - however cold it is outside!!

lilaliboo1

I understand from the police that the camping equipment was venting gas while being stored within the tent overnight. This suggests to me it was damaged or old. Either way a CO detector could have helped whether it was in a caravan or tent. It's just such a shame really.

lipidicman

If the equipment was venting gas in storage then where did the CO come from? CO is carbon monoxide and is a product of incomplete combustion.

Escaped Gas could also cause suffocation (displacing oxygen from the tent) but it is not toxic like CO (CO effectively destroys hemaglobin by binding irreversibly to it) so this would be much less likely and crucially a CO detector would be useless in this situation.

Still, sorry to hear about this. I just want to make sure people understood the problem (ie not relying on a CO detector in the situation you describe)

lilaliboo1

Thanks, I don't know what happened, I will find out hopefully, I suppose there will be an inquest. What is indisputable is that they went on a camping trip and died unexpectedly by carbon monoxide poisoning. There is no suggestion of suicide.

I don't know whether maybe they thought the stove was off - how likely is that? It is a very wierd situation and you'd think it would be a one-off, but like I said it happened twice last week, two separate incidents.