CO-detector sales up after incident

PITTSFIELD — As two Pittsfield residents remain in intensive care for carbon monoxide poisoning, their plight is raising awareness about how dangerous the gas can be — and how important it is to take precautions.

The public is apparently taking the cautionary tale to heart: Local hardware stores yesterday reported "significant" increases in the sale of carbon monoxide detectors.

"This is happening for all the wrong reasons," said Bart Raser, co-owner of Carr Hardware in Pittsfield, who estimated the store sold more than 100 carbon monoxide detectors yesterday — well above the daily average of one or two. "In fact, we had to pull inventory from some of our other stores to keep up with the demand."

The units have been required by law for some time, but homeowners across the state have been slow in installing them.

Fire officials estimated that only about 20 percent of local homeowners in Pittsfield have installed the devices.