MNHQ please could you add carbon monoxide detector to the camping packing checklist

[LateToTheParty]

Sadly each summer there are news reports of people dying while camping because of bbqs or heaters being left in or near tents and sleeping areas. Not everyone is aware of the risks so please could you add carbon monoxide detectors to the camping packing checklist.

We recently bought a twin pack of CO detectors quite cheaply and have wall mounted one at home. The other one is freestanding and now goes away with us when we camp.

Good post Late. I got one for the house and I intend to take it on holiday with us wherever we go.

Latest reports are saying, this is what may have sadly happened to that little 6 year old girl in the new forest

Shouldn't people be just made aware that you shouldn't put bbq inside the tent or just outside it? Just common sense, really.

Look I see your point - but the problem is in people not realising how dangerous a BBQ can be when camping. That safety aspect is about more than the CO2 produced. It would be more useful to remind people to be cautious with BBQs/fires and use well away from tents.

sorry I don't mean CO2 - that's carbon dioxide not carbon monoxide

The BBQ wasn't inside the tent according to the article I read, but may have been near it.
I find this pretty frightening as I'd always thought it would have to be actually inside to be dangerous.

I think adding it to the camping checklist is an extremely good idea. People die every year from CO in tents.

There have been cases of people putting a BBQ that has gone out in a tent porch overnight. Thinking that as the BBQ is outthen it's safe and not realising, like many wouldn't, that it can still be giving off fumes. Scary stuff.

there was one last year where a man put a barbecue in a tent to warm it up and then took it out again before going to bed, not realising the fumes had lingered.

I think most people know the basic 'don't have the stove inside the tent' but most of the accidents seem to involve a slightly different scenario where they thought that because the bbq was out/it wasn't quite inside the tent/they took it out again, etc, it would be ok.

just read about one case where a man was killed from fumes blowing into his tent from someone else's generator.

so even if YOU would never have a bbq near your tent, there's no guarantee someone else won't leave theirs near you.

We are definitely taking our detector with us.

Very good motion, OP. A few years ago when we were working at Glastonbury Festival the local Fire Service came round and installed free smoke/CM detectors into all the caravans/living vehicles of everyone who wanted one. It ran into the hundreds. A great move and with a bonus phwoar factor too!

After hearing the story about the two children killed by CO poisoning at a hotel in Majorca or was it Greece(?) a few years ago, I always pack a CO detector when we go on holiday - even to rented cottages in this country. I also bought one for my father, as he admitted never gets his boiler serviced!

Hello
I know nothing of this "camping" of which you speak (am still in counselling after doing D of E bronze years ago)
But will talk to those who are in the know.
M Towers

There's a brand of camping stove - well mountaineering really - called MSR. Stands for Mountain Safety Research, started by the father of a young man killed by CO un his tent in the Alps. A very real risk. At low altitude, I always use a meths burner (Trangia) or two.