DeNova Detect Early Warning: Why 10% LEL Natural Gas Alarms Save Lives

Homes across the United States will usually have a defense against smoke, fire and carbon monoxide in the shape of a detector. Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms have become essential in establishing peace of mind from these very real and all too often lethal threats. We recognize the dangers imposed by the presence of undetected smoke and carbon monoxide and address them, but what of another threat? Natural gas incidents are on a dangerous rise with nearly three hundred destructive gas events happening each year. This is partly due to a reliance on natural gas appliances in homes and an aging U.S. infrastructure that's become vulnerable, especially natural gas pipelines that are built with corrosion prone materials. The latter can be particularly frightening as homeowners can be completely oblivious to the dangers that reside beneath them.

Two recent events can speak to the destruction caused by undetected natural gas. On March 12th, 2012, a natural gas explosion destroyed two buildings in East Harlem that resulted in eight deaths and over fifty injuries. The culprit was a gas main that happened to be 127 years old. The second incident happened on March 26th, 2015 in the East Village of Manhattan. This time a tapped gas line was responsible for completely destroying a series of surrounding buildings that resulted in two deaths, nineteen injuries and more than two hundred and fifty firefighters on site. The nation's oldest cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable as infrastructure continues to age, yet we still do not treat the threat of natural gas with the same amount of respect dedicated to smoke, fire and carbon monoxide.