California Now Requires Carbon Monoxide Detectors in Single-Family Homes

On May 7, 2010, the Governor signed SB 183, a bill that requires all single-family homes (that have fossil fuel burning appliances, fireplaces, or an attached garage) to be retrofitted with a carbon monoxide device (CO) on or before July 1, 2011—six months after the effective date of the bill.   More details of the requirement can be found here.

Are you Ready?

While channel-surfing today I stumbled upon a show called “The Next Megaquake”.  It turned out to be something between a sobering earthquake documentary and a chilling, nail-biting, over the top, disaster drama.  As if we don’t already have enough to worry about, I thought, do people really need to be freaking out about the next big quake?  Then it dawned on me: No, we just need to be Ready.

I think this is as good a time as any for all of us to check to see that we’re prepared.  Experts say that after a big quake, people should plan to be without help or public services like water, electricity, and gas for about 3 days.

Take a minute now to see if you could make it through 3 days with no services.  An earthquake preparedness kit, bottled water, some canned foods, soups, and some extra granola bars are all good to keep in the pantry just in case.

Since ATMs could be off-line for a while, remember to keep a little extra cash in the house too. 

Here’s a great list of items to include in your own preparedness kit. We have no reason to live in fear, but we have every reason to be prepared.