On this page
The thing that kills people in power outages is rarely the dark. It’s the machines and improvised heat sources people drag inside to cope — and the gas those machines produce is colorless, odorless, and lethal before you feel sick enough to act. Carbon monoxide doesn’t smell like anything. You don’t see it. You don’t get a warning you’d recognize until it’s too late. That’s the trap this guide is built around.
There are two more counterintuitive hazards hiding in the same event: a portable generator wired the wrong way can electrocute a utility worker who believes the line is dead, and the moment power returns after an outage is exactly when your electronics are most at risk. The darkness itself is the least of it. Here’s what actually matters.
Carbon Monoxide: The Hazard That Ties Everything Together
Three things cause the most outage-related CO deaths: generators, charcoal grills, and gas ovens used for heat. They share one feature — people use them because they’re cold or without power, they seem like reasonable solutions, and the gas they produce gives absolutely no warning before it kills.
The rule for generators and any combustion device (camp stoves, charcoal grills included) is this: outside only, on dry stable ground, at least 20 feet from any window, door, or attached garage. Not “away from windows.” Away from windows, doors, and attached garages — because CO seeps back through any opening, and an attached garage might as well be indoors. A generator under a porch awning or carport still traps exhaust. “Outside but close to the house” is not outside enough.
Running a generator in a garage — even with the garage door wide open — is still lethal. This is the most common fatal mistake, and it feels counterintuitive because it looks like outdoors. It isn’t. The exhaust accumulates and comes inside.
Back all of this with working CO detectors on every level of the home. Since the gas has no smell or color, a detector is the only warning you’ll get.
Now for the other member of the lethal triad: never use a gas stovetop or oven to heat your home. Not “avoid it if possible.” Never. An oven left open overnight for warmth is a classic CO death scenario — people associate stoves with cooking, not poisoning, and don’t make the connection to the same risk a generator carries. A sealed-up house in cold weather concentrates CO faster than you’d expect. The rule is absolute, not a matter of degree.
Generator Wiring: The Hazard Most Homeowners Have Never Heard Of
There’s a wiring mistake that doesn’t just risk your household — it can kill a utility worker on a line miles away. It’s called backfeed, and it happens when someone plugs a generator into a wall outlet (sometimes with a cable wired at both ends, called a “suicide cord”) to power the house through the home’s own circuits. The electricity travels backward through your meter and onto the utility lines. A lineworker who believes the line is dead touches it and dies.
The rules here are simple and firm:
- Never connect a portable generator to a wall outlet, circuit breaker, or fuse box — plug appliances directly into the generator using heavy-duty extension cords.
- Any permanent or standby generator must be installed by a qualified electrician with a transfer switch, which physically disconnects your home from the utility grid before the generator comes online.
- Start the generator with nothing plugged in, then connect your loads one at a time.
- Let the engine cool before refueling — fuel can ignite on hot engine parts.
The transfer switch is the part most homeowners don’t know about until someone explains why it exists. Now you know.
Electrical Hazards: Downed Lines and Flooded Basements
Treat every downed power line as live and lethal until utility crews confirm otherwise. A line that looks dead can re-energize when power is restored, or from generator backfeed elsewhere on the grid. Anything touching a live line — debris, a fence, standing water — is itself energized.
Never enter a flooded basement if outlets, wiring, or appliances might be submerged. Water in contact with energized wiring conducts electricity through the water, and through you. Don’t stand in water to flip a breaker for the same reason — you’d be completing the circuit through your body.
The car scenario is the counterintuitive one: if a downed line falls on your vehicle, your instinct is to get out fast. Don’t. Stay inside and wait for utility workers to de-energize the line. The car insulates you. The moment you step out and touch both the car and the ground, you close a circuit and electrocute yourself. Only exit if the car catches fire — and if you must, jump clear so you don’t touch the car and the ground at the same time.
When Power Returns: The Restoration Surge
Most people focus on surviving the outage and forget that the moment power comes back is when electronics actually get damaged. Voltage can spike briefly at restoration, and if every appliance in the house is still switched on, the simultaneous draw can trip breakers or overload circuits.
The protocol is straightforward:
- During the outage, turn off and unplug major appliances and sensitive electronics — computers, TVs, anything that doesn’t like a sudden voltage spike.
- Leave one light on so you know when power returns.
- When it does, wait a few minutes, then turn things back on one at a time.
Surge protectors help, but unplugging is the only certain protection.
Food and Medication: The Rules That Override Your Senses
A refrigerator with the door kept closed holds food at a safe temperature for roughly 4 hours. A full freezer holds for roughly 48 hours; a half-full freezer loses its thermal mass and warms much faster — figure around 24 hours. These are best-case estimates built on two assumptions: the door stayed shut, and the freezer was full. Every time you open the door to check, you’re burning through those hours faster.
The discard rule: any refrigerated food that has been at 40°F or above for 2 hours or more goes out. So does anything with an off odor, color, or texture — but notice the order of operations. The temperature-and-time threshold governs, not your senses. Many dangerous bacteria leave no smell, no slime, no visible sign. “Looks fine” is not a safety test. When in doubt, throw it out.
Note: the dropped claim that food should be discarded at 40°F with no time attached was investigated and rejected — the threshold is 40°F for 2 or more hours, and that condition matters. Don’t apply the temperature alone.
Refrigerated medications are a separate question. Most survive several hours in a closed refrigerator without a problem. If the outage runs longer than a day, the general guidance is to discard refrigerated medication unless the label says otherwise. But general guidance is not good enough for life-sustaining drugs. Insulin and biologics have their own storage rules, and the cost of guessing wrong — either discarding medication you needed or using degraded medication — is too high. Check the label and call a pharmacist for anything critical.
Temperature Extremes and Getting Around
Outages are most dangerous at the temperature extremes, and the CO hazard and the temperature problem are directly linked — cold drives people to reach for unsafe heat sources. Plan the heat problem before it gets desperate: in cold weather, dress in layers and minimize time outdoors. In a heat emergency, move to the lowest level of the home, wear lightweight light-colored clothing, and drink water.
If you or anyone in your household depends on electrically powered medical equipment, that’s not an inconvenience — it’s a medical emergency if the outage runs long. Backup power for those devices needs to be arranged before the outage, not during.
A few situational rules worth knowing:
- Dead traffic signals mean treat the intersection as a 4-way stop — every direction stops and yields in turn. Drivers who assume right-of-way at a dark signal are a real hazard.
- If you’re trapped in an elevator, wait for help. Don’t force the doors — the cab is designed to be safe and there’s adequate air. Forcing the doors risks falling into the shaft.
- Rolling blackouts are deliberate load-shedding by the utility and can repeat in the same area and last over an hour. Peak demand periods are one common trigger, but the specific timing varies by grid, region, and season — don’t plan around a fixed window.
The One Thing to Remember
Outage deaths don’t come from darkness — they come from what people bring inside to fight the cold and keep the lights on. Carbon monoxide from a generator, grill, or gas oven running indoors is invisible, odorless, and fast. The 20-foot outdoor distance, the working CO detector, and the absolute rule against using a stove for heat aren’t precautions you weigh against convenience. They’re the line between an uncomfortable night and a fatal one.