Chimney Fire

   / Chimney Fire #1  

Rch

Platinum Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2000
Messages
658
Location
Central Wisconsin
Tractor
1986 Ford 1910 with 770B (FORD) loader, 4 MFWD; 1986 Bolens G214,back hoe,loader,MFWD (Iseki) 21 hp)
I had an experince recently that the post on "Fire extinguisher" under Tractor Safety reminded me of. I have a penisula fireplace that was only into it's 2nd season ( I thought it took years for creosote to build up !). I loaded a fresh log in that broke up an already burning manufactured log (parafin/sawdust). This caused the fire to flare-up and bingo-I had a chimney fire.There was this roaring noise like a really big blow torch and you could see flames in the metal flue. I had a chimney fire flare on hand that looks like an ordinary flare except it produces DENSE smoke. Luckily, I had put on a pair of welding/fireplace gloves. Once you start one of these flares ther is no putting it out til it's burned up. And it's dripping globs of molten sulfur. Also the fireplace is going great guns and I'm trying to hold this over the fire into the opening of the flue,to direct the smoke up the chimney and contain the molten globs. The chimney fire was out about a quarter into the life of this flare, but I had a real tiger by the tail for the other 3/4th. If I hadn't had those gloves on I would have lost it.As it was that smoke left a white powder all over to cleanup. The flares are to throw into a sealed stove. I went out and brought a fire extiguisher with a foot hose and bugle end so it can be direct with out having to be right over the flames of the fire place. The chimney sweep comes every year.

RCH
 
   / Chimney Fire #2  
Rich,

That's a pretty good description of a typical chimney fire. FORTUNATELY, the only thing you missed was how the hot flue then catches the framing on fire, which catches the roof on fire, which burns the house down . . . /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

I'm glad your situation turned out okay. It's IMPERATIVE that the chimney be cleaned periodically. And fire extinguishers are pretty cheap, considering what they CAN prevent. I have several in the house, one in each car, one on the tractor, several in the barn, etc. Pretty easy for me to justify it - my partner is handicapped - she CAN'T run. Don't bother me at all to buy a fire extinguisher...

Lot's of people use woodstoves around here - winter is long, hard, & cold, and heating is expensive. Wood is a reasonable alternative- besides, nothing as nice and warm as a wood stove. And every year, I read about a house burning - not all due to chimney fires, but enough.
 
   / Chimney Fire #3  
You can also toss water in there. One of the keys to fighting a structure fire is that when water hits a hot object, it turns to steam, and diplaces 1700X it's original volume. Even though the steam is hot, it still has a cooling affect on the fire, while at the same time diluting oxygen(IFSTA "Essentials of Firefighting", Chapter 13).

1-2 quarts of water thrown in there probably would have extinguished the fire.

I have heard 7 or 8 Chimney fire calls on the scanner so far this weekend...



RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif
 
   / Chimney Fire #4  
RCH, sorry to hear of your chimney fire--glad everything turned out OK.

I just asked my wife the other day to track down a chimney sweep. It's been 3 yrs since our fireplace was put it. Since we have a high efficiency unit and burn mostly seasoned oak and hickory, I'm curious as to just how much build-up there is. What you burn and how efficiently it burns affects creosote build-up alot.

One thing I did do was to use stovepipe that's rated to 5000 degrees and is supposed to withstand a chimney fire without burning the house down. I don't necessarily trust that, but it gives me a little more peace of mind. Of course it should considering what it cost!!! (more than the fireplace, which wasn't cheap).

John
 
   / Chimney Fire #5  
Rch,

Glad everything worked out. Had a similar situation about 6 years ago, but no fire extinguisher. Used a ladder and a 5 gallon bucket of water to extinguish the blaze. But. . .

Then I talked to a few experts on the subject and this is what I discovered. Water can actually damage the firebrick inside the chimney if you use it to put out a chimney fire. The rapid cooling CAN cause the lining of the chimney to crack and in extreme cases can cause it to shatter. If cracks develop, then the creosote will be deposited into them, and the next time you have a chimney fire, it might get real serious and get past your firebrick./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Needless to say, I bought a chimney cleaning kit (cheap) and kept some fire extinguishers handy after that. Maybe now I'll have one of those flares AND a pair of gloves handy instead./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif. Thanks for the tip.

18-33477-tibbsig2.JPG
 
   / Chimney Fire #6  
I am told that my chimmey should be cleaned after 3 cords of wood have been burned in the chimmey. The last chimmey cleaner slod me this chemical to add to the ashes each week to help remove buildup in the chimmey. This fall when I get the chimmey cleaned again, it will be interesting to see if it worked.
Dan L
 
 
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