ISSUE # 21 ... A HOLIDAY TRAGEDY IN ASPEN AND A CHANCE TO SAVE LIVES
December 1 A tragic accident needlessly took the lives of a young family visiting Aspen for the Thanksgiving weekend. Carbon Monoxide poisoning silently, and without warning, stole the lives of a young family of four while they slept.
Click Here for Aspen Times Article.
And Also Follow Up article:
Elizabeth was close to the Lofgren family, as former neighbors in Denver. The family had been visiting with her the evening before their tragic deaths. The Lofgrens were staying in a relatively new house in North Star Preserve for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. This tightly built house and faulty mechanical devices apparently acted together to kill this unsuspecting lovely family.
Protect Your Home and Family NOW!
Carbon Monoxide detectors are inexpensive and no more difficult to install than a new light bulb. So why don't most of us have them in our homes, particularly with our sophisticated boiler and mechanical systems in Aspen? It's likely one of those chores we never got around to.
In searching to find some small element of good to emerge from this tragedy, we decided to make it easier for homeowners, landlords and renters to get that important chore done right now. We have made arrangements through Alpine ACE Hardware in Aspen to sell simple, effective First Alert carbon monoxide monitors, and have them delivered to your door. Alpine ACE (the local store, not nationally), is discounting the cost 10% from $59.99 to $53.99, and providing FREE DELIVERY to support the effort. Sales tax and the credit card processing fee bring the total to $60.00 per monitor. (The Red Ant is processing at no profit, of course.) The detectors will be delivered free to almost any address in Pitkin County. The package will be left at your door. (See product informationat First Alert Detector Information --but the for theclick throughspecial purchase, read on.)
No Excuses. Don't Procrastinate!
The installation is simple enough for dummies. You will not need your property manager to do this. Just plug it into an electric outlet -- preferably one detector for each floor in your home. And certainly one near your boiler/mechanical room. If you prefer a more sophisticated system tied into your fire/burglar alarm monitoring system, please call your service directly. In the meantime, consider this simple, inexpensive solution that you can execute immediately.
You could save a life with this small expenditure. And have peace of mind. As home mechanical systems have become considerably more complex and homes tighter, the risk of dangerous carbon monoxide exposure is increased. Click through below to purchase this simple device now.
Send One to Other Friends in Aspen
Send the message to friends and family that you want them to be aware and protected as well. Buy a CO monitor as a gift and have it delivered to someone's Aspen area home. Consider sending a one to your favorite baby-sitter, bartender or ski instructor.
Elizabeth's "Lofgren Initiative"
We are also going to initiate a request that the City and County building codes require installation of carbon monoxide detectors in new and remodeled construction as soon as possible. We will also encourage the City to consider installing such devices in all affordable housing units. We are meeting with City Officials later this week. Their initial response was very encouraging. We are calling the effort the "Lofgren Initiative" in honor of Elizabeth's dear friends. As you talk with City officials, please encourage them to support and accelerate this effort.
Purchase Details
The click-through below will allow you to charge your credit card for these detectors. ($60 each). Note that the CREDIT CARD purchase is on the bottom left by clicking the "continue" button on the Paypal screen. Be sure to put in your Aspen area street address as your shipping address, so that ACE may deliver to your doorstep. (You will likely have tochange the shipping address on the credit card site.) ACE will drop at your Aspen area door without signature.
For simplicity we are only offering one model, which comes highly recommended.
Click below for more information on whether your home should have such a device.
http://theredant.squarespace.com/storage/Carbon%20Monoxide.doc
The Red Ant
As always, we encourage you to post any comments on our blog below. Maybe you have had an experience you can share that will encourage others or the City to act promptly on this matter.
While this is a departure from our typical local political pundit pastime, we hope that the resource we have in the diverse Red Ant mailing list will help create awareness, and prevent such senseless deaths in the future.
If you have more complex needs or want to talk about other brands or systems, we recommend that you call Mark Janda, at Alpine ACE 970 925 3031. Mark is very knowledgeable on the subject.
http://theredant.squarespace.com/storage/Carbon%20Monoxide.doc
Reader Comments (2)
Thanks for the reminder.
We should have said that the particular unit that ACE is delivering also detects explosive gases.
As an update, Elizabeth made a request to Council in the meeting last night, which was received with support and direction to staff to focus on this issue.
We expect similar results from the County Commissioners on Wednesday. We hope to see regulatory changes very soon.