Vt. officials weigh requiring carbon monoxide detectors

MONTPELIER -- State and local officials are considering requiring carbon monoxide detectors in homes throughout Vermont as one response to last weekend's carbon monoxide leak that killed one person and made others ill.

Today, the Burlington City Council is to discuss possible changes in city ordinances that would mandate carbon monoxide detectors in some homes and annual inspections of fuel-fired heating devices in rental housing.

On the state level, bills are in the works in both the House and Senate to mandate carbon monoxide detectors. The Douglas administration also is researching possible code changes, including mandating detectors.

The proposals are being made within a week of the deadly carbon monoxide leak in a privately run apartment building at the University of Vermont. The leak that killed Jeffrey Rodliff, 23, of St. Johnsbury, was attributed to a faulty boiler that was emitting 40 times the normal level of carbon monoxide, and a broken pipe that had been the subject of a 1998 recall that the owner said he was unaware of.

The City of Burlington inspected the boiler visually last year, but it was unclear when it had undergone a thorough inspection.

News of the accident sent state and city officials scurrying to assess how they might change laws to address those issues and how other cities and states handle the matters. Specifics will be hashed out in the coming months.

''I don't think anybody disagrees with the intent. The devil is in the details," said Stuart Bennett, director of the Vermont Apartment Owners Association.

Senator Jim Condos, a Democrat representing Chittenden County, said a bill is being prepared that would mandate carbon monoxide detectors in rental housing and newly built single-family homes. The bill could be expanded to require that detectors be installed in older homes when they are sold.

''What happened at UVM was a very tragic situation that could have been avoided by a $20 detector," Condos said.