Prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, heat illness and cold injury
Off-grid homes rely on stoves, generators and outdoor work in all weathers. These three hazards are preventable and can kill quickly.
How
- Carbon monoxide: fit battery or battery-backup CO alarms near every sleeping area, test them twice a year and replace per the manufacturer (about every 5 years). Never use generators, grills, camp stoves or charcoal indoors. See safety-10.
- CO symptoms are flu-like: headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, chest pain and confusion. Get everyone into fresh air and get help.
- Heat stroke (confusion, slurred speech, collapse, seizures, very high temperature) is an emergency. Cool first: whole-body ice or cold water immersion is the preferred treatment (WMS guideline). If you cannot immerse, use water, wet cloths and fanning. Move to shade and call for help.
- Mild hypothermia: CDC says a temperature below 95 F (35 C) needs immediate care. Move the person somewhere warm, remove wet clothing and warm the chest, neck, head and groin first.
- Moderate or severe hypothermia: handle the person gently and keep them lying flat, because rough handling can upset the heart rhythm. Insulate them all round, including from the ground, with a vapour barrier (a hypothermia wrap). Warm the upper trunk, armpits, chest and back.
- Before starting CPR on a very cold person, check breathing and pulse for up to 60 seconds. A slow pulse is hard to feel through cold skin.
- Frostbite: rewarm only if the part cannot refreeze. If it might refreeze, keep it frozen until it can stay thawed. If quick rewarming is not possible, let it thaw on its own.
- Do not rub frostbite or warm it with a stove, heat lamp or heating pad. WMS reserves field rewarming in water (about 37 to 39 C, checked with a thermometer) for when hospital care is more than 2 hours away.
- Practise the hypothermia wrap in your drills (medical-9). The safety module (safety-25, safety-26) covers prevention; this step owns the first aid text.
- If no help can reach you: follow your no-help plan (medical-33).
Safety: If someone is unconscious and not breathing, call for help and start CPR as trained. For a very cold casualty, check breathing and pulse for up to 60 seconds first.
Do these first
Sources
- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Basics. CDC, accessed 2026-11
- Heat-related Illnesses (NIOSH). CDC / NIOSH, accessed 2026-11
- Preventing Winter Weather Health Problems. CDC, accessed 2026-11
- Wilderness Medical Society clinical practice guidelines for frostbite (practice guideline summary). American Family Physician (AAFP), accessed 2026-11
- Wilderness Medical Society clinical practice guidelines for hypothermia (practice guideline summary). American Family Physician (AAFP), accessed 2026-11
- Heat illness: practice guidelines (2025). American Family Physician (AAFP), accessed 2026-11