B737-700
Flight Attendant Current
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General Maintenance Action; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Aircraft
I checked in for our departure on flight XX. I got to the plane and was the first flight attendant to arrive. I went down to the plane and noticed a paint thinner smell and walked to the back of the plane and noticed the smell throughout the plane. I went to the front and asked the First Officer if he noticed the smell and he said; 'Yes'. That he would run the APU to get air flow. I felt uncomfortable with the odor and stopped the flight attendants in the jetway. The other flight attendants could notice the strong smell in the jetway. The Captain arrived shortly after the flight attendants and further assessed the situation when he got there and made sure no one boarded the plane as the odor was strong. I felt we should contact the base supervisor so [NAME] the B flight attendant contacted [NAME2]; the on duty supervisor. She came to the jetway and noticed the smells right away. Maintenance told the Supervisor that the way the heater was positioned attached to the plane that the wind was blowing in the heater exhaust into the plane. The Captain; was told by maintenance that there could be CO2 onboard but there was no way to measure CO2 with any devices.We need a safety measure to prevent crew and passengers to be affected by toxic fumes. If a device that measures toxic fumes available would help prevent an occurrence such as this. There also needs to be procedures in place that prevent the potential device (maybe heater) from discharging exhaust fumes into the aircraft.
B737-700 Flight Attendant reported a cabin fumes event during pre-flight. Flight crew was notified and maintenance requested.