By Ryan O'Connor
Staff Writer

The Goffstown News/Ryan O’Connor Ann Frans, of Goffstown, stands next to the furnace which silently released carbon monoxide fumes into the night as she and her husband prepared for bed. Frans said the furnace had just been cleaned in October.

Bruce and Ann Frans have been living in their Goffstown home on Mast Road for more than 13 years. One day in early January, Ann decided to start pestering her husband to buy a carbon monoxide detector.

Bruce installed the safety device on Jan. 13, and only two days later it went off as the couple prepared for bed.

Ann Frans is not sure what brought on the urgency to buy a carbon monoxide detector, except that every fall she said she sees advertisements warning people of the dangers of “the silent killer.”

“I don’t know what possessed me to keep after him (her husband). Maybe it was premonition, but thank God we bought one when we did,” she said. “We would have went to sleep permanently had we not put that in.”

When the fire department arrived at the scene they found readings as high as 72 PPM (parts per million) and rising.

On the notice of findings slip that the fire department left with the Franses, it states of levels 100 PPM or greater: “Our instruments have detected a potentially lethal level of carbon monoxide. Leave this building immediately! It is unsafe to reoccupy this building until repairs are made and your detector is replaced.”

Ann said that she was checked out in an ambulance for any effects of exposure, but the only ill effect was a high blood pressure level caused by the stress of the experience.

While she was being attended to she said that Bruce tried to stay in the house and help, but was told by a firefighter to evacuate immediately because it was “their house now.”

The two stayed in the ambulance for an hour and a half while the fire department opened all the home’s windows to let out the bad air.

The Franses were only allowed to re-enter their home after friend Doug St. Pierre, who owns G + O Heating in Hooksett, came and fixed the problem.

According to Ann, Sunday, Jan. 15, had been a very windy night and the strong wind that was blowing down the chimney had cause the furnace to malfunction. Her and her husband have since installed weather caps on their two chimneys to prevent a similar problem in the future.

While Frans was grateful for the help of everyone who responded, she said they would never have had the opportunity to say thanks if they had not had the detector in place.

“I am very thankful for the fast response of the fire department, police department, ambulance personnel and Doug St. Pierre,” said Frans. “It’s scary when you think of what could have happened.”

She added, “We tell everyone to get one (a carbon monoxide detector) if you don’t have one. Even if you already have one, you should really have one on every floor.”