Last night I'm preparing for bed by stoking the wood burner and adjusting the lighting so I can stumble out to add a log at 1 and 3 am and out my back window I see an unfamiliar glow. At first I thought it must be some sort of reflection from the street light or my own fire (Yes I was tired) but soon realized my neighbors chimney was ablaze! It was volcanic! Spewing live embers down on the roof and shooting off like independence day! A quick text and he was out immediately running around like the stooges fire brigade! I thought I'd have to call the fire department but knew he was quite capable. He initially said he had no fire extinguisher and I said you need a hose! Anyhow here is my rendition and I wonder how others have dealt with the emergency. My coworking wood burner says not to reveal this situation to your home owners insurance as they will triple your premium...thoughts?
Are the fire and sparks still flying at your place?? scary situation there. PS. I have never had to get up and "stock" my pellet stove
The LAST thing you wanna do is use a hose. Fire extinguisher in the woodstove or fireplace is the best option. The cold water from a hose, hitting the hot chimney, will wreck everything. Years ago when I was a volunteer FF, we ran training exercises on chimney fires and hose was only an option if the fire has spread well beyond the chimney. We used to keep a bucket full of ziplock bags containing ammonium phosphate (the powder in fire extinguishers) on the engine, and we would run a roof ladder up to the chimney and drop two or three bags down the chimney, nine times out of ten it put the fire out.
Gulp! Spooky situation to say the least. At least they were fortunate enough you were up. Glad you could make them aware. Lemme guess. They cut and burn there fuel the same year? Curious. Sooo? Arent you tired of getting up and adding a log now and then at all hours? Can't you burn full stove batch's to give you some decent sleep time? I did the same as you for my first year/stove. That routine sucks! Guess I don't know your setup/situation.
Good thing he was awake to receive your text message !! Personally, I would've ran over to his house and banged holy hell on his door to wake him up, and help him out.
First and foremost.. Good job to you on being aware and letting him know right away. We all know that it had the potential to take a turn for the worst! Secondly, as soon as I heard about the hose, I too thought "Oh no!" Do not spray the hose down the chimney as the water quickly turns into steam at a rate of about 1000 times-a drop or water turned into steam takes up 1000 times the space. This is where all the damage comes from-the rapid expansion of water into steam...…..but then I thought, that scavenger is a smart one and she knows better than that......the offer of the hose was to wet down the roof and prevent possible ignition form the hot coals spraying onto it (according to the artist's rendering)….right? I thought so! You are to be commended for doing your neighbor such big favor!
My concern was his roof not the fire itself. He has a fireplace and they doused that quick. The hose was in his hands though so I'm not sure where his aim took him. And the heat is very much still on at my place....he's chucking everything on the west side of Cleveland to move in with me...sometime real soon...
Creosote chimney fire? Best is not to burn in conditions that give you creosote. Choking a stove way down is a high risk proposition. Burning green wood is another risky action. Keep the chimney hot, burn well seasoned wood and make sure that your fire has enough air to burn clean.
Teach him about burning seasoned wood and how to sweep his chimney. God forbid the spewing sparks light the fence then your home on fire.
Yikes thats scary! Good thing you saw it. Clean the chimney good and figure out whats causing the build-up. I personally wouldnt tell the insurance co.
I guess it did happen because a picture was posted. Kukos to you scavenger for being observant and acting quickly.Glad it turned out okay and no one was hurt.
Glad you were able to get his attention. Too bad it didn't happen tonight, it's pouring rain here in central Ashtabula county. It would have kept embers from damaging his roof. He should probably be looking for some of those chimney fire log extinguishers.
