The Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday allowing localities to require carbon monoxide detectors in some buildings.

The bill was inspired by two incidents in which hundreds were sickened by carbon monoxide leaks.

In 2006, a 91-year-old man died and more than 100 people attending a Lutheran Church conference at Roanoke College were taken to the hospital due to a carbon monoxide leak in a dormitory. In August, more than 20 people were sickened, two of them critically, by a carbon monoxide leak at an apartment near Virginia Tech's campus.

Senator John Edwards' bill allows localities to require carbon monoxide detectors in buildings that contain a fuel-fired appliance or are attached to a garage or carport.