MIDLAND, Texas — Carbon monoxide monitors are a life saving device and one many people take for granted.
Manor Park maintenance crews spent Monday installing them in the building that was evacuated following a gas leak.
Up until this incident, there were none in the Helen Greathouse Manor.
"Once we discovered the risk of gas being burned and becoming carbon monoxide we wanted the building to be safe, and first thing we thought we could do of any help would be get those monitors installed right away," said Executive Director Alan Hale.
Work began the day of the leak. Crews bought out the local supply of carbon monoxide detectors and installed them.
They ordered 120 more and installed those over the weekend.
The assisted living community ordered even more for 140 other rooms on campus that are gas powered.
The question is: Why weren't there any monitors in the first place?
"To my knowledge we were compliant with every relevant code whether it's federal, state, local. We had a good architect team that put that building together. It met all the codes at the time," Alan said.
The campus opened its doors to residents in November 2005.
There was no mandate by the National Fire Protection Association at that time requiring carbon monoxide monitors.
That mandate did not come until 2018, and it's only for new facilities, meaning Manor Park was still compliant.
"We've done everything we know to do to prevent the re-occurrence of carbon monoxide in our building," Alan said.
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