Hey guys/gals. I had a really serious situation happen this evening and I want to share in the hopes that someone else may avoid a tragedy.
About 5 minutes from home I received a call from my wife telling me the house was on fire. As I got to within about a mile of the house I saw the flames coming from the top of my chimney stack. Fortunately, we have a great Fire Dept. In Coalgate and they were about three minutes behind me. By the time I got home my Father-in-law (who lives with us) had gotten everyone out and into his truck. We got to work in the attic trying to keep the falling embers from igniting the ceiling and rest of the roof. By the time our extinguishers crapped out the FD had gotten hoses out and we got the blaze out pretty quick. The chimney stack is trashed, along with a bit of the roof and a fair amount of water damage, but everything considered it could have been sooooooo much worse.
All that said, this a new home. We have been in it about 16 months now. We burn good, seasoned hard wood and I check my flue on occasion. This is not the situation one usually thinks of when one hears of chimney fire. We were very lucky. Many nights I load up the fireplace at bedtime and even get up in the middle on the night to add wood. If this had happened in the middle of the night it could of been catastrophic.
Everyone, PLEASE..... Take a bit of time and make sure you have a couple of decent sized fire extinguishers in the house or garage. Make sure the batteries in the smoke and CO detectors are good. Inspect you heating sources for ANY abnormality and correct them if you find something. Also, develop a plan with your family for emergencies. Imagine trying to vacate your home in the ice/snow like we had the past few weeks. Have a place to meet. Keep your spare keys where you can grab them on the way out. As I said, this happened in a well-built, new home. The opportunities for failure in older homes in many times greater. As it turned out, the fire inspector believes our fire was due to a faulty seam in the triple-wall flue pipe venting my fireplace.
We are all safe and sound, and a bit shaken. The smoke damage is mostly limited to my walk-in attic and upper room. Our personal belongings are mostly fine and the clothes just need a washing. I got lots of plastic sheeting and plywood patching the roof together and didn't lose any utilities, just my sanity! I truly hope that everyone that reads this will at least walk around and look for possible problems. Maybe this ordeal can keep someone else from having a similar problem. Thank God for insurance, I'll never ***** about a premium again!
Who knows, maybe I'll be able to sleep again in a few days. It's 4:20am right now.
About 5 minutes from home I received a call from my wife telling me the house was on fire. As I got to within about a mile of the house I saw the flames coming from the top of my chimney stack. Fortunately, we have a great Fire Dept. In Coalgate and they were about three minutes behind me. By the time I got home my Father-in-law (who lives with us) had gotten everyone out and into his truck. We got to work in the attic trying to keep the falling embers from igniting the ceiling and rest of the roof. By the time our extinguishers crapped out the FD had gotten hoses out and we got the blaze out pretty quick. The chimney stack is trashed, along with a bit of the roof and a fair amount of water damage, but everything considered it could have been sooooooo much worse.
All that said, this a new home. We have been in it about 16 months now. We burn good, seasoned hard wood and I check my flue on occasion. This is not the situation one usually thinks of when one hears of chimney fire. We were very lucky. Many nights I load up the fireplace at bedtime and even get up in the middle on the night to add wood. If this had happened in the middle of the night it could of been catastrophic.
Everyone, PLEASE..... Take a bit of time and make sure you have a couple of decent sized fire extinguishers in the house or garage. Make sure the batteries in the smoke and CO detectors are good. Inspect you heating sources for ANY abnormality and correct them if you find something. Also, develop a plan with your family for emergencies. Imagine trying to vacate your home in the ice/snow like we had the past few weeks. Have a place to meet. Keep your spare keys where you can grab them on the way out. As I said, this happened in a well-built, new home. The opportunities for failure in older homes in many times greater. As it turned out, the fire inspector believes our fire was due to a faulty seam in the triple-wall flue pipe venting my fireplace.
We are all safe and sound, and a bit shaken. The smoke damage is mostly limited to my walk-in attic and upper room. Our personal belongings are mostly fine and the clothes just need a washing. I got lots of plastic sheeting and plywood patching the roof together and didn't lose any utilities, just my sanity! I truly hope that everyone that reads this will at least walk around and look for possible problems. Maybe this ordeal can keep someone else from having a similar problem. Thank God for insurance, I'll never ***** about a premium again!
Who knows, maybe I'll be able to sleep again in a few days. It's 4:20am right now.
