Chimney Fires

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire," a line from the 1944 holiday classic, "The Christmas Song," evokes a feeling of home, warmth, friends and a cheery fire in the fireplace.
And whether you roast chestnuts or not, enjoying a fire in the fireplace or wood-burning stove is part of the charm of living in the mountains. But the charm of a cheery fire can quickly turn to disaster if residents don't pay attention to their chimneys.
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the leading factor contributing to home heating fires (26 percent) was failure "to clean, principally creosote from solid-fueled heating equipment, primarily chimneys."
"We recommend residents clean their chimney at least once a year, and maybe more if they use a lot of soft woods, such as pine, as their fuel source," said Jerry Ringhofer, Crest Forest Fire division chief.
One of the biggest dangers is the buildup of creosote inside the chimney or flue.
According to the NFPA, creosote is a sticky, oily, combustible substance created when wood does not burn completely. It rises into the chimney as a liquid and deposits on the chimney wall.
A conservative best estimate of creosote fires would combine failure-to-clean fires that were confined to chimney or flue or involved solid-fueled space heaters, fireplaces, chimneys and chimney connectors.
This produces estimates of 14,190 reported creosote fires (22 percent of all home heating fires) per year nationally, with associated losses of four civilian deaths, 11 civilian injuries, and $35 million in direct property damage per year.