Girl's death spurs action

Five months after a 7-year-old girl from Plymouth died when her home filled with carbon monoxide, legislators on Beacon Hill are pushing to make Massachusetts the ninth state in the country to require that a detector for the lethal gas be installed in every home.

Today, after months of negotiation, legislators, state fire officials, and firefighters are to gather in Springfield to press for a law requiring every homeowner and landlord to install a $30 carbon monoxide detector. Two decades ago, the state enacted a similar requirement for smoke detectors.

Some 480 people die annually from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The victims are sometimes unaware they are breathing the odorless, colorless gas emitted by gas and oil furnaces, water heaters, space heaters, and clothes dryers.

''There is solid evidence, based upon the success of smoke detectors, to believe that CO detectors will be that early warning system and will save lives and prevent serious injuries," said State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan, who helped draft the bill with firefighters and legislators.

However, Skip Schloming, executive director of the Small Property Owners Association, which says it has about 3,000 members, called the bill ''feel good" legislation. In an interview last night, Schloming said legislators should focus instead on reducing fire-related fatalities by toughening enforcement of smoke-detector laws. ''The concern is that it's the wrong focus; we need to work on fire prevention," he said.

The bill -- backed by Coan, members of the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, and the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts -- is not likely to face opposition in the House and Senate, according to its sponsor, Representative Cheryl A. Rivera, a Springfield Democrat.

Yesterday, the committee, which Rivera chairs, approved the bill and sent it closer to a vote in the Senate. ''I'm extremely confident that this will pass this year," Rivera said. ''It's clear and convincing, and therefore I don't think any of my colleagues will be objecting to it."

The bill was prompted in part by the Jan. 28 death of Nicole Garofalo, a Plymouth second-grader, from carbon monoxide poisoning in her home, which had no carbon monoxide detector installed. Snow from a massive blizzard had blocked an exhaust vent from her family's propane-fired boiler.

When her father, Mark, a state highway worker, returned home from his overnight shift at 10 a.m., he found Nicole, his pregnant wife, Christine, and his son, Ryan, unconscious in their beds. Nicole died at Massachusetts General Hospital. Christine Garofalo's pregnancy terminated. She and Ryan survived

''We have to send a message," Rivera said. ''For $30, you can save not just one life, but an entire family."

Under the bill, homeowners and landlords would have 180 days from the law's passage to install a detector. Tenants whose landlords refused to comply could withhold their rent. Firefighters would check to make sure the detectors are installed when houses are sold or ownership transferred, legislators said.

John Dulczewski, spokesman for the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said his group would prefer that the state impose the detector requirement immediately, rather than when the home is sold. However, he said his group generally backs the legislation.

Firefighters in Massachusetts responded to 2,739 carbon monoxide-related calls in 2003, according to Coan, about 94 percent of which came from homes.

Plymouth's deputy fire chief, Martin A. Enos, applauded the bill yesterday, but expressed frustration that it took a child's death to bring action. ''It's unfortunate that it wasn't done sooner," Enos said. ''It might have saved more than just one life in Plymouth."