Lynn McNelly thought she couldn’t possibly be poisoned by carbon monoxide after opening all the windows and doors of her Monument home, but now she credits an alarm monitor with saving her life.

On Aug. 6, a carpet cleaning service van parked too close to the home’s front door and its motor-operated generator created carbon monoxide fumes that filled every floor of the three-level house.

“Within minutes, every carbon monoxide detector on every floor of the house was going off and ADT called me immediately,” McNelly recalled, but she was stubborn and insisted that she felt fine. “I told the lady from ADT that I was busy and that I was alright, that all the windows and doors were open.”

More than 700 miles away in Irving, Texas, ADT alarm monitor Norma Morin immediately dispatched Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Protection District crews to McNelly’s home. Then, she called again and again – four times total – until she persuaded the woman to leave her home.

“She kept telling me that she felt fine, but I know from training that if those alarms are going off, it’s not OK, it’s dangerous,” Morin said. “It was up to me to make sure she left her home right away.”

Almost two months later, McNelly and Morin met Thursday at the Monument home, along with ADT representatives and Tri-Lakes Monument fire crews involved in the Aug. 6 emergency. Morin received ADT’s prestigious “Life Saver Award,” and ADT presented a $5,000 grant to Tri-Lakes Monument fire, which Fire Chief Chris Truty said will most likely be used to equip first responders.

“Carbon monoxide is a gas we can’t see, taste or smell. Everything in this home appeared normal, but the truth is that the carbon monoxide levels were deadly,” Truty said. “People need to be very mindful of their alarms and leave any building when they go off, immediately.”

According to McNelly, the carbon monoxide readings in the first level of the home were at about 265 parts, 240 in the second level and 225 in the upper level; it took more than an hour for the gas to dissipate.

“I know how lucky I am and to be honest, I am ashamed that I was so stubborn because I should know better,” McNelly said. “I owe my life to the ADT monitor and to the firefighters.”

For more information on ADT, visit http://www.adtsecurity.com/adt-pulse/.

Homeowner Lynn McNelly, left, embraces ADT Monitor Norma Morin, from Irving, Texas, who McNelly credits with saving her life after she ignored three carbon monoxide alarms that were set off when a carpet cleaning machine malfunctioned in her home. Had the ADT dispatcher not been persistent in telling her to evacuate, McNelly said she would have been dead in 30 minutes. Michael Ciaglo, The Gazette

Michael Ciaglo, The Gazette