Bereaved Dana warns of gas death danger
Dana Rosemary Scallon took to the airwaves yesterday to warn people about the importance of installing a carbon monoxide alarm in their homes.
A regular fire alarm cannot detect carbon fumes.
Last month, Dana’s nephew by marriage, Killian Scallon, an estate agent, and his wife Pauline, a special needs teacher, popped out to see some family.
According to Dana, it was “freezing weather” so they turned on the heating before they left their home at Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh.
However, they had only returned for a short time when they were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes. It later emerged the fumes penetrated the family home after a bird set up a nest in a central heating flue, blocking the gas’s normal exit.
“It was just a fluke. It is unbelievable that something so simple can take two such beautiful people,” Dana told 2FM’s Tubridy show.
Killian, 51, died in his home immediately while his wife, Pauline, died several days later.
The couple had two children in their 20s and had just returned from visiting one of them who lives in Dublin.
“This gas is undetectable unless you have a working alarm, so I am urging people to buy a carbon monoxide alarm. You can buy it in any hardware store and it’s simple to put up, just like putting up a regular smoke alarm,” Dana said.
“Remember the smoke alarm doesn’t cover all eventualities. You need the carbon monoxide alarm also.”
And just a week after the Scallon tragedy, another man living in Irvinestown succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.
A few months before, two teenage friends died in a Co Derry apartment from carbon monoxide poisoning.
