New carbon monoxide detector requirement for La. residents

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - The Louisiana State Fire Marshal wants residents to be mindful of a new requirement that will go into effect at the beginning of 2023 for homes across the state.

The new rule applies to any home sold or leased after January 1, 2023, and requires at least one carbon monoxide detector in the home.

The bill, Louisiana Legislature Act 458, passed in the 2022 Legislative Session, following the loss of lives after Hurricane Laura in 2020, along with additional deaths that occurred after Hurricane Ida the following year.

Ashley Rodrigue, with the State’s Fire Marshal’s Office, said most of those deaths were connected to the use of generators, which produce carbon monoxide.

“One of the keys is generators. That’s where we’ve seen the source of a lot of these tragedies,” she said. “Another element to this law is that anytime at a home where a standby generator is installed, at least one carbon-monoxide monitor must be installed in the home with it.”

According to the Louisiana Department of Health, eight out of the 15 deaths related to Hurricane Laura, were due to carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators, including a family of five that died after placing a generator in a detached garage.

The Louisiana Uniform Construction Code Council will also require carbon monoxide detectors to be installed at the same time a home standby generator is installed.

For more information on the guidance document, issued by the State Fire Marshal’s Office ahead of the new carbon monoxide law change, visit www.lasfn.org.

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