The
following is a summary of our two press conferences that were held today in
Auburn MA related to the Ford Explorer Carbon Monoxide (CO) issue.
A
total of 13 Town Ford Explorer and Interceptor vehicles tested positive
yesterday for elevated levels of CO. 10 vehicles from Police, 2 from Fire and 1
from the Department of Public Works.
A
total of 6 Police Officers were sent to the hospital with elevated levels of CO,
1 emergent following a motor vehicle accident and 5 as a precaution. The Police
Chief ordered all officers in the department be tested. All officers were
released from the hospital yesterday and are doing fine.
Town
officials held a meeting with Ford Engineers in Auburn this morning to discuss
the problem and our findings from yesterday’s testing conducted by the Fire
Rescue Department. Those four Ford employees spent the day inspecting some of the 13
vehicles that tested positive. Not all vehicles were tested today and that testing will
continue into tomorrow.
In
addition, officials held a conference call this morning with Ford Engineers in
Detroit to discuss the problem. Ford has committed to work with the Town of
Auburn to rectify all issues and stated that the four Ford employees will remain
in Auburn until the 13 vehicles are repaired and back on the road.
Today
the Town placed an order of 50 SCOTT Protégé 2M single gas CO meters to be
installed in all Ford Explorer and Interceptor vehicles as well as some additional
vehicles in the towns fleet.
The
Town has received several phone calls today from Police and Fire Departments
from across the state inquiring what types of monitoring devices we have
researched. Fire Officials are saying the manufacturer you choose is not important, the recommendation is a single gas, zero maintenance CO meter. What fire officials
are saying is that residential CO detectors are not the proper application for
this issue. The difference between these meters and a residential CO detector
is the single gas meters are constantly monitoring for CO, where as a residential
CO detector is activated due to long term exposure.
END
Contact:
Stephen M. Coleman Jr., MPA, CFO
Chief of Department
Auburn Fire Rescue Department
47 Auburn St.
Auburn, MA 01501
508-832-7800
scoleman@town.auburn.ma.us
