Wareham residents Frank and Janet Kowzic are thankful to be alive after being exposed to carbon monoxide for over an hour. While they did have a working detector, they were surprised to hear it go off.

“We’ve had the detector for ten years, and never heard it. For five minutes, we were just trying to find out what was beeping,” Frank said. “We thought it was broken, so we changed the batteries.”

“I honestly thought the detector was malfunctioning,” Frank said. “We ate supper and watched 45 minutes of TV.”

However, the detector was not malfunctioning. The Kowzics use a wood-burning stove, and the ashes were accidentally put into an open container near a furnace by a member of the family.

“I’ve been bcarburning wood from October until April for 40 years. I’ve been cautious,” Frank said.

After changing the batteries and having the alarm continue to sound, the Kowzics called the Onset Fire Department.

“Thank God for the Onset Fire Department. They told us to close the house and windows, and get out,” Frank said. “We probably waited too long.”

“A lot of times, people don’t call right away. They will wait hours or days after an alarm goes off,” said Raymond Goodwin, Onset Fire Department acting chief. “If it goes off, call us immediately.”

Janet’s carbon monoxide was at a dangerous level, according to Frank. She and her son had to be placed on an hour of oxygen at Tobey Hospital due to their exposure. Frank was in and out of the house at the time, lowering his intake.

“If it was any closer, we could have had three deaths,” Frank said. “It didn’t hit me until I was going back home. Then, the gravity of situation hit me. I’ve been saying my prayers.”

For Janet, once the fire department was called, she became distraught.

“I was in a state of panic. I said, ‘oh no, something is wrong,’” Janet said.

Janet’s state of panic became even stronger when paramedics said she would be going to the hospital, saying: “Those poor EMTs. They should have slapped me.”

For the Kowzics, they are happy to learn from the incident.

Frank said that the Onset Fire Department informed him that carbon monoxide incidents happen more often than people would think. Goodwin said, in 2013, the department responded to eight carbon monoxide incidents, 18 cases of malfunctioning detectors and three cases of other chemicals tripping the alarm.

“Sometimes, it’s a matter of us going to a medical emergency, and people say, ‘I feel ill, and my child is feeling ill,’ and then we discover a CO incident,” Goodwin said. “When there’s a fire, there’s smoke. With CO, it’s tough because they can’t see it. They can’t recognize it, especially at lower levels.”

“I’m embarrassed, but I’d rather be embarrassed than dead,” Frank said.

“These detectors – everyone should make sure they have one of these,” Janet said.