Actually, you are right that there is a bit of truth to the "pine causes chimney fires" myth, but it is only of Eastern origin and it probably goes more like this....
You take your typical Easterner who, year after year, burns predominantly unseasoned Oak, blissfully developing a good thick coating of creosote in his chimney. Eventually one day he finds, or someone offers him, some nice dry Pine. He then proceeds to burn a load of this nice dry Pine in the same manner as he usually burns the wet Oak, expecting much the same sort of results, but instead the fire burns much hotter (the way it is suppose to) than it has ever done in the past, thus igniting the creosote that has been developing in the chimney over the years, and he has a huge chimney fire. The fire department comes and puts out the fire (hopefully saving his house and family), later the fire chief asks the homeowner how the chimney fire got started? To which the homeowner replies, “all I did was burn a load of Pine.” Thus perpetuating the myth that the Pine was the “cause” of the chimney fire and it is "dangerous" to burn in your stove.
Just remember the significant difference between pine and oak (if oak is what you're use to burning) is that pine not only seasons faster than oak, it also burns faster and hotter too.
to get sap/pitch off your hands?
