Girl, 10, saves grandma from 'silent killer' gas

A 10-year-old girl who helped her grandmother detect a potentially fatal gas after learning about them at school has been praised for her "heroic" intervention.

Connie learnt of the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO) at her school in Eccles and gave an alarm to Pauline after the class.

Two days later the device went off and it was discovered the gas was coming from the 79-year-old's cooker.

Pauline said her granddaughter's actions "literally saved my life".

Connie, now 11, attended a Crucial Crew workshop with St Mary’s RC Primary School in Eccles in March.

She was given a CO alarm to take away, but since Connie already had two in her home, she gave it to grandmother Pauline, who lives in Cadishead.

Pauline had suffered "dizzy spells" before the alarm went off and the faulty cooker was removed by gas firm Cadent.

She said the man from Cadent told her if she had not had the alarm she would probably have fallen asleep.

"I thought, if that was a Friday night, nobody would know or think about it until Monday, and then you’d be dead. [Connie] literally did save my life."

Pauline started feeling better almost immediately, and the pair now want to highlight the dangers of CO because, without the alarm, Pauline said she might not be here today.

"If she hadn’t gone to the Crucial Crew workshop, and she hadn’t got the alarm and she hadn’t given it to me, then who knows?" Pauline said.

Crucial Crew is an event led by emergency services agencies in Greater Manchester to teach children safety advice.

CO is a poisonous gas that poses a serious threat to health if exposure occurs, and it cannot be detected by smell, taste or sight.

According to Cadent, each year there are around 40 deaths in England and Wales from CO poisoning.

Pauline has urged everyone, particularly those who are older or live on their own, to ensure they have alarms fitted and to monitor any unusual symptoms.

She said: "I know they say it’s the silent killer… but people don’t tend to think about carbon monoxide.

"In the case of people my age, if you did get dizzy spells, don’t just presume it’s old age."

Asked how Connie felt after "saving her Nanna’s life", she said "heroic" and "tremendous".

She added: "Don’t expect it not to happen to you because it can."

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