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Montgomery County Fire & Rescue warns residents about generators, carbon monoxide and home safety before storm
Summary
County Fire & Rescue urged residents to prepare for outages with flashlights and battery backups, to avoid using generators or ovens indoors and to schedule free home-safety checks through 3-1-1 to reduce carbon-monoxide and fire risks.
Óscar Méndez, program manager for the Community Risk Reduction unit at Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS), advised residents to prepare for possible power outages during the storm and offered practical safety steps.
“Es muy cierto y la prevención siempre va a ser la clave,” Méndez said, urging listeners to keep flashlights and batteries on hand and to avoid candles. He recommended using text messages for family communications when cellular service is intermittent because texts may queue and deliver when service returns.
Méndez stressed carbon-monoxide (CO) risks tied to portable generators, running vehicles in garages and indoor use of ovens for heating. “El monóxido de carbono es comúnmente conocido como el asesino silencioso,” he said, and advised operating generators at least about six feet from the house and never using them indoors or near windows.
He described a case in which low-level, chronic CO exposure produced prolonged symptoms that were only identified after targeted testing; he used that example to urge households to install and test CO alarms and to seek professional evaluation when symptoms persist.
MCFRS offers free home-safety inspections — checking alarms, water heaters, dryer lint and exit routes — and schedules visits via 3-1-1 or the department website. Méndez said staff and firefighters coordinate to arrange inspections and that resource tables at county libraries and community centers provide information in Spanish.
What’s next: Residents should test alarms, avoid indoor generator or oven use as heaters, and call 3-1-1 to request a free safety inspection before or after the storm.
