After a Massachusetts teacher and his family died on Christmas due to carbon monoxide poisoning, a fire department is hoping to prevent it from happening to other families.
“After the tragedy I received so many phone calls about carbon monoxide safety, questions on carbon monoxide detectors and locations. I was surprised to find so many people still did not have carbon monoxide detectors,” Mills Fire Chief Richard Barrett wrote in a letter on Facebook.
He then began thinking what he could do for the community so that “no family has to suffer so much loss again.”
The fire department was able to team up with the American Red Cross to offer free carbon monoxide detectors to families that don’t have one or need to replace one that is at least 10 years old.
The Goldstein family — Matthew, 52; Lyla, 54; Valerie, 22, and Violet, 19 — died in their vacation home in New Hampshire on Christmas.
The Newton family of four was supposed to attend a holiday event, Hampshire State Fire Marshal Sean Toomey said in a virtual press conference.
When they didn’t show up, family members requested local authorities check up on the Goldsteins at 2962 Province Lake Road in Wakefield, New Hampshire, Toomey said.
There, authorities found the Goldsteins dead, according to the fire marshal. The home didn’t have any working carbon monoxide alarms inside.
The home’s propane gas system malfunctioned and stopped filtering out carbon monoxide, causing the deadly gas to leak through the home instead, Toomey said.
The family died overnight, Toomey added. Three of them were found dead in a bedroom, while one was found in the bathroom.
Carbon monoxide deaths in New Hampshire have spiked in 2024, with 10 cases reported this year, according to Toomey. There are usually two to three cases per year.
The most recent carbon monoxide deaths happened in Bedford, New Hampshire, when a woman and a man, both 79, died due to the colorless gas, according to CBS News.
Matthew Goldstein grew up in Mills and went to high school with Barrett.
“Matt was a teacher, father and friend to many people and his family’s loss has touched so many people,” Barrett wrote.
People should follow these safety tips to ensure their carbon monoxide alarms are working properly:
- Install and maintain carbon monoxide alarms in a central location outside each separate sleeping area, on every level of the home, and in other locations, as required by laws, codes or standards.
- If you have combination smoke/carbon monoxide alarms, follow the directions for smoke alarm installation.
- Test carbon monoxide alarms once a month and replace them if they fail to respond correctly when tested.
- Replace the carbon monoxide alarm according to the manufacturer’s instructions or when the end-of-life signal sounds.
- Know the difference between the sound of the carbon monoxide alarm and the smoke alarm and each alarm’s low-battery signals. If the audible low-battery signal sounds, replace the batteries or replace the device.
- Carbon monoxide alarms are not substitutes for smoke alarms, and vice versa. Know the difference.
Prior material from MassLive was used in this article.
