Small chimney fire tonight

[jhoff310]

I had a small chimney fire tonight. I spent the day cleaning out my folks house and came home to a cold house. My loving wife cleaned the stove and emptied the ash pan while I brought in some wood. I lit the fire and let it burn for a few minutes and closed the door. After a few minutes the fire was ROARING!!! I watched it for a minute or 2 and thought wow that was some super dry wood. Then I got to thinking about it "wait that ash was cut and split 8 months ago." I heard the chimney groaning and popping. I poked my head outside and looked up at the chimney. I swear there was a diesel truck in my chimney, Black smoke just a billowing out like there was no tomorrow. I walked back in the house and I could smell the "hot metal smell" followed by popping and crackling coming from the chimney. I used the IR thermal gun the the DVL piping was 375 stove top was 300. I closed the damper in the chimney and let it go. I walked back outside and saw the smoke was getting lighter. I ran inside upstairs to my sons room, pulled the access panel to the chimney and was hit with a BLAST of HELL. the solid pak was 275. I listened and heard more popping and crackling. Ran back downstairs and looked at the stove, the fire in the stove was down to coals. I temped the chimney and it was slowly falling in temp, it was down to 300 stove top was 284. I monitored the situation for a few minutes and realized I was in the clear.Back outside white smoke from the chimney, back inside I go. The pipe temp cooled off to acceptable temps within 15 minutes. I put another small piece of wood into the stove on the coals to see what happened, I closed the door and the fire took off again. Looked like someone had a blowtorch in my ashpan. I looked at the stove and realized when my wife put the ash pan back in there was a small coal the fell out and wouldn't let it go in all the way. I removed the burned coal and pushed the ash pan back in place where it is supposed to be not where she thought it was supposed to be.
I called my buddy at the fire dept. told him the situation. He said "you did good, but you should've called".
Kinda freaky if you haven't experienced it before. Make sure you have all of your small coals removed from your ash pan drawer.

Jeff

 

[jasult]

Yes, so the ash pan was not sealed tight and you were getting too much air from the pan. I bet your chimney is cleaner now too!!!

 

[mga]

He said "you did good, but you should've called".

what would they have done besides flood your house with water and punch holes every where?

 

[jasult]

what would they have done besides flood your house with water and punch holes every where?

That was my fear as well when I had small creosote fire before I decided on the SS liner that I installed. I was afraid to call fire dept from all the damage they feel obligated to do. My mistake was not installing the liner 20 years ago.
I had road flares in garage and I was told many years ago to throw the flares in stove after lighting them if I ever had a out of control fire and turn down damper. It worked

 

[066Bigbear]

now coming from a firefighter (for 10 years) I have have been on many chimney fires. And the first thing we do is go to the roof and see if we can see down. Doing this with full PPE and with a air tank if we can see where the prob is than we try and clean it out. But before all this takes place we remove the fire in the stove we have a 55 gal drum cut in half on the truck and we put all the coals in it and put those out. Then we remove the stove and start to talk to the people on the roof and see what we see. If we can not see all the way from top to bottom the first thing we drop down the chimney is a thing we call "chimney bomb" all it is dry powder from a fire ex this is in zip lock bags. We do this to put the fire in the chimney out. Then after that we become a chimney sweep and clean it all out and put it out in the same drum that the coals are in. So in my 10 years I have never and i mean NEVER put a hole or pulled walls or took the chimney off the side of some ones house. The only time I have pulled walls or flooded some ones home is when it needs it. We have been though count less hours of training to do the lest amount of damage. I would not want some one coming into my home that I did not know and taking apart everything I have worked hard for. I know that in the past thats how things were done but now a days there is a lot of new stuff that we have to work with. One is a thing we call a T.I.C (thermal imaging camera) this will let us look though the wall at the hot spots (also works good on checking for deer too lmao)<I have never done this just what I have heard. So your friend was right should have called first you would have had them put the fire out in the chimney and had it swept for free (a little donation would not hurt tho).





Just a little inside scoop

 

[atvguns]

That was my fear as well when I had small creosote fire before I decided on the SS liner that I installed. I was afraid to call fire dept from all the damage they feel obligated to do. My mistake was not installing the liner 20 years ago.
I had road flares in garage and I was told many years ago to throw the flares in stove after lighting them if I ever had a out of control fire and turn down damper. It worked

what does the flares do to the fire

 

[jasult]

what does the flares do to the fire

it suffocate's the fire by pulling all the oxygen out of stove to burn flare and that is reason to close damper and all doors on stove
This will not work if there is enough air entering the damper frame. I paid extra attention on my damper frame and had to fabricate my own block off plate and used chimney insulation to pack around the block off plate. This also helps keep warm room air from escaping.

 

[buzz sawyer]

I had a small chimney fire tonight. I spent the day cleaning out my folks house and came home to a cold house. My loving wife cleaned the stove and emptied the ash pan while I brought in some wood. I lit the fire and let it burn for a few minutes and closed the door. After a few minutes the fire was ROARING!!! I watched it for a minute or 2 and thought wow that was some super dry wood. Then I got to thinking about it "wait that ash was cut and split 8 months ago." I heard the chimney groaning and popping. I poked my head outside and looked up at the chimney. I swear there was a diesel truck in my chimney, Black smoke just a billowing out like there was no tomorrow.
Jeff

That is a scary sight and sound. Had one a few years ago in my stainless liner.

 

[jasult]

now coming from a firefighter (for 10 years) I have have been on many chimney fires. And the first thing we do is go to the roof and see if we can see down. Doing this with full PPE and with a air tank if we can see where the prob is than we try and clean it out. But before all this takes place we remove the fire in the stove we have a 55 gal drum cut in half on the truck and we put all the coals in it and put those out. Then we remove the stove and start to talk to the people on the roof and see what we see. If we can not see all the way from top to bottom the first thing we drop down the chimney is a thing we call "chimney bomb" all it is dry powder from a fire ex this is in zip lock bags. We do this to put the fire in the chimney out. Then after that we become a chimney sweep and clean it all out and put it out in the same drum that the coals are in. So in my 10 years I have never and i mean NEVER put a hole or pulled walls or took the chimney off the side of some ones house. The only time I have pulled walls or flooded some ones home is when it needs it. We have been though count less hours of training to do the lest amount of damage. I would not want some one coming into my home that I did not know and taking apart everything I have worked hard for. I know that in the past thats how things were done but now a days there is a lot of new stuff that we have to work with. One is a thing we call a T.I.C (thermal imaging camera) this will let us look though the wall at the hot spots (also works good on checking for deer too lmao)<I have never done this just what I have heard. So your friend was right should have called first you would have had them put the fire out in the chimney and had it swept for free (a little donation would not hurt tho).





Just a little inside scoop

We respect your response and I hope this eases the scare of calling fire dept.

 

[jasult]

That is a scary sight and sound. Had one a few years ago in my stainless liner.

Was yours from creosote build up?

 

[meatwagon45]

Basicly, you had a malfunction, not a chimney fire. The high temps in the stove, chimney, and surrounding area was due to your ashpan. A chimney fire is the uncontolled burning of built up creosot in your chimney.

You sound like the type of guy that is afraid to ask for help. The fire dept is not going to cut random holes in your roof, walls, or floors. They are not going to fill your house with water. They will only do what is nessesary to put out the fire. Granted you have your own IR gun, it only tells you the temp in the area that you point it. A thermal imager will show a firefighter where the heat is coming from. You might have been relieved to see the temps go down, but you would not have seen the fire burning the tar paper next to your chimney between your plywood and shingles. Tar paper, plywood, and flashing will hold heat for a while, long enough for you and your family to feel that everything is ok and safe to go to sleep. You said that you opened the access panel in your sons room and were hit by a blast of heat. That same blast of heat with a breaching fire behind it could ignite your sons room and trap him. Not something that anyone wants to face at 2am.

I suggest you go down to the firehouse and chat with the firefighters. It sounds like you need help understanding that these people are trained to eliminate hazards with as little damage as required.

 

[Dalmatian90]

I had road flares in garage and I was told many years ago to throw the flares in stove after lighting them if I ever had a out of control fire and turn down damper. It worked

The road flare DID ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY NOTHING.

It was closing the dampers that helped control the fire. That a road flare was in the fire box and the fire went out was merely a coincidence.

Road Flares contain an oxidizer. They provide their own oxygen supply, so they don't "it suffocate's the fire by pulling all the oxygen out of stove to burn flare" as the poster later stated.

What looks similar but functions very differently are Chimfex Flares. These release copious amounts of smoke that displace oxygen and smother the fire in the chimney. Same method of use -- ignite, put in fire box, close dampers. Except, unlike road flares, they accomplish something.

The MSDS sheets for both are available here: Safety and distress signals - Orion Safety Products Note the part that says "Suffocation will not be effective" for both.

You also don't want to confuse a chimney flare for a road flare when setting up at a vehicle accident. You don't want a smoke screen there.

 

[Dalmatian90]

Basicly, you had a malfunction, not a chimney fire. The high temps in the stove, chimney, and surrounding area was due to your ashpan. A chimney fire is the uncontolled burning of built up creosot in your chimney.

From the description of copious amounts of black smoke, roar, and high temperature when he opened the panel in the bedroom to check the chimney, he had a chimney fire.

That's not a simple over fire situation confined to the stove that would cause that kind of smoke, nor that amount of heat that far up the chimney. That was creosote burning in the chimney, even if flames weren't reaching the top.

What ignited it was likely the ash pan problem allowing an over fire in the stove which sent a lot of heat and possibly some licks of flame up into the chimney to light off the creosote, and that same problem meant air was still getting in initially when he closed the stove dampers. Once he corrected that problem, the oxygen was cut off and the creosote burning in the chimney died down.

 

[jasult]

The road flare DID ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY NOTHING.

It was closing the dampers that helped control the fire. That a road flare was in the fire box and the fire went out was merely a coincidence.

Road Flares contain an oxidizer. They provide their own oxygen supply, so they don't "it suffocate's the fire by pulling all the oxygen out of stove to burn flare" as the poster later stated.

What looks similar but functions very differently are Chimfex Flares. These release copious amounts of smoke that displace oxygen and smother the fire in the chimney. Same method of use -- ignite, put in fire box, close dampers. Except, unlike road flares, they accomplish something.

The MSDS sheets for both are available here: Safety and distress signals - Orion Safety Products Note the part that says "Suffocation will not be effective" for both.

You also don't want to confuse a chimney flare for a road flare when setting up at a vehicle accident. You don't want a smoke screen there.

I stand corrected, however I was referring to what a fire inspector gave me years ago. Is this what it was?


Google

 

[jhoff310]

You sound like the type of guy that is afraid to ask for help. The fire dept is not going to cut random holes in your roof, walls, or floors. They are not going to fill your house with water.

I suggest you go down to the firehouse and chat with the firefighters. It sounds like you need help understanding that these people are trained to eliminate hazards with as little damage as required.

I am not afraid to ask for help. As far as the fire dept. is concerned my dad was a fireman for 44 years (God rest his soul). I grew up with the guys on the dept. I know them all on a first name basis, have several BBQs a year with the guys. I am very familiar with firefighting techniques, and I am well aware of what fire is capable of doing. Looking back on the incident I wouldn't have changed a single thing I did. I had the situation "under control in a rather quick amount of time." To play it safe I probably should've called the boys over, they would've done the same thing I did. if at anytime I felt the situation was out of control I would've called them in an instant.

Jeff

 

[coog]

I'm sure he gave you that and not a flare. Good to see that they are available again.

 

[jimbojango]

So chimney fires probably arent good and all. BUT: I've had flames 10 feet tall coming out of the top of my cap before. It didn't seem to hurt anything. the fire in the stove was some seasoned hedge mixed with green and it was about 3 degree's outside. had a good fire going and went out to check the dogs and had flames coming out. Never shut the damper or anything and about 10 minutes later they were gone. Called a guy that installs stoves, he came and looked and said everything was fine.

So my question is why are chimney fires a problem? i have the silica lined double wall pipe is this maybe why i didn't have "problems" ?

 

[Haywire Haywood]

So my question is why are chimney fires a problem? i have the silica lined double wall pipe is this maybe why i didn't have "problems" ?

If the creosote is heavy, I've read that the roar can blow molten ignited creosote out the top. That lights shingle roofs, vinyl siding, you name it. If your chimney is breached you can have fire shooting out the cracks.

This is my understanding, don't take it as gospel.

Ian

 

[freemind]

When I have seen creosote burn, it reminded me of those "snakes" fireworks pellets.

Even the shiny creosote when it buned, burned HOT and puuffed up. It was soft after buring, coming off easily. But I can see how it would leave a restriction in a pipe after a chiney fire.

 

[LazyJ]

I've had several and they've always occurred when I opened the door on a really hot fire. I immediately shut the door and damper and they always go out within a few seconds. Only one chimney fire that I would classify as dangerous and that was due to my rope gasket being worn to where I couldn't shut off the air and it continued to rage. It caused the dreaded lava flow raining on my shingles.and would have lit off my roof had I not had a ladder and a non-frozen garden hose at the ready.