CPSC Issues Winter Storm Safety Tips in Bethesda, Maryland: Portable Generator Carbon Monoxide Kills About 100 People a Year, Heaters Need 3 Feet of Clearance
BETHESDA, Montgomery County, Maryland — As winter storms and freezing temperatures threaten millions across the country, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued safety tips to help families prevent carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and fires. According to CPSC, CO poisoning from gasoline-powered portable generators can kill in minutes, and an average of about 100 consumers die in the United States each year from CO poisoning from portable generators, according to the agency's latest report on non-fire carbon monoxide deaths associated with consumer products.
CPSC states that a portable generator must never be operated inside a home, garage, basement, crawlspace, shed or other enclosed space, and that opening doors or windows will not provide enough ventilation to prevent the buildup of lethal levels of CO. It also advises never using charcoal indoors, and clearing snow away from the outside vents of fuel-burning appliances such as furnaces so that dangerous carbon monoxide does not build up in the house.
For portable heaters, CPSC advises keeping all sides of the heater at least 3 feet from beds, clothes, curtains, papers, sofas and other items that can catch fire; placing the heater on a stable, level surface where it will not be knocked over; never leaving a portable heater running unattended in a confined space; always plugging electric portable heaters into a wall outlet — never a power strip — and never running the cord under rugs or carpeting; and being mindful of children and pets around portable heaters. CPSC's Carbon Monoxide Safety Center pages, in English and Spanish, collect its alarm and emergency guidance.
来源链接：美国消费品安全委员会发布（cpsc.gov）： https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2026/As-Winter-Storms-Threaten-Millions-in-the-US-CPSC-Issues-Safety-Tips-to-Help-Families-Prevent-Carbon-Monoxide-Poisoning-and-Fires
Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：便携式发电机。Maksym Kozlenko 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Portable generators. Photo by Maksym Kozlenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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