How would you know if you had a chimney fire?

"Having" not "had" ?

A loud roar, glowing pipe inside the house, neighbors telling you for chimney is spewing fire like a dragon (did someone say dragon?) Pipes shaking.

Franks said:

"had"

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that would be when your chimney is clean and you don't know how.

Anybody have any pictures of the exterior view of a chimney fire? I hear that they can be spectacular.

ControlFreak said:

Anybody have any pictures of the exterior view of a chimney fire? I hear that they can be spectacular.

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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8655719721448091566#docid=-1555557626951983611

zap

How to know if you are "having" a chimney fire: Typically you will hear it -- sounds like a freight train or Boeing 747 about to take off . . . another tell-tale sign that you're having a chimney fire is when the firefighters begin climbing on your roof.

How to know if you "had" a chimney fire: Black ash and bits of creosote on the snow-covered ground, discolored metal pipe, very clean tile.

How to know if you "had" a bad chimney fire: You and your family are staying at Motel 6 while your old house is being rehabbed or your new house is being built.

Depends on the size of the chimney fire. A small one might just sound like rain inside your pipe. A big one, you'll know it if you're home. It roars, shakes, deep red flames out the top of the chimney, column of dark smoke, soiled underpants. If you're not home, you may not even know you had one. Chimney fires don't always mean house fire.

quads said:

Depends on the size of the chimney fire. A small one might just sound like rain inside your pipe. A big one, you'll know it if you're home. It roars, shakes, deep red flames out the top of the chimney, column of dark smoke, soiled underpants. If you're not home, you may not even know you had one. Chimney fires don't always mean house fire.

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Right. I only ever had one (that's one too many), and it was a small one. I could hear the rumble and roar and see dense black smoke from the chimney. Shut the stove up as tight as it could go and called the FD. The sound stopped after about 2 minutes, and by the time the FD got there, it was out for sure. They still came in and scooped the fire out of the firebox and took it outside, and ran a chain up and down the chimney to dislodge any big creosote chunks. Not much help in this particular case, but it's a good thing they were there just in case, I suppose.

Just wondering: If you have a properly installed ss chimney, what are the chances your house burns down if you have a chimney fire?

Jack Straw said:

Just wondering: If you have a properly installed ss chimney, what are the chances your house burns down if you have a chimney fire?

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If it's properly installed, it should contain the fire inside the chimney and not start the house on fire. A bigger danger would probably be hot chunks of creosote landing on the roof.

If you have a house dog, who lays by the stove,,and you come home and he`s across the room laying down,,you had One!

Creosote also takes on a very light and airy texture like popcorn after a chimney fire. Very bubbly.

atomichawg said:

firefighterjake said:

How to know if you are "having" a chimney fire: Typically you will hear it -- sounds like a freight train or Boeing 747 about to take off . . . another tell-tale sign that you're having a chimney fire is when the firefighters begin climbing on your roof.

How to know if you "had" a chimney fire: Black ash and bits of creosote on the snow-covered ground, discolored metal pipe, very clean tile.

How to know if you "had" a bad chimney fire: You and your family are staying at Motel 6 while your old house is being rehabbed or your new house is being built.

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I knew some one would have a smart aleck reply!

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Sorry . . . couldn't help myself . . . it's my nature.

Jack Straw said:

Just wondering: If you have a properly installed ss chimney, what are the chances your house burns down if you have a chimney fire?

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The key being "a properly installed" chimney . . . if properly installed the chance of a devastating fire in my opininon is unlikely . . . the biggest issue I see with chimney fires is when it's in an old masonry chimney . . . and for some reason when we have a bad one it's in the unlined, old brick chimney which is practically falling down . . . and of course the fire call always comes in around 1 a.m. in middle of a snowstorm . . . and the house has a steep, steel roof . . . and the basement clean out is blocked by about 10 years worth of junk that has been accumulating down there.

I think for most hearth.com burners who have actually taken the time to do the proper install the more important issue is that you really don't want to subject your chimney to those high temps and risk stressing out the components which could cause the chimney to "wear out" sooner than expected.

cmonSTART said:

Creosote also takes on a very light and airy texture like popcorn after a chimney fire. Very bubbly.

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atomichawg said:

So if you are having a chimney fire, call the fire department?

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I think it's a good idea.

a) if the fire is still going when they get there they can and will extinguish it
b) in our fire department (Unity) we will typically put out the fire and then give the chimney a quick sweep and look to see if there are any major issues that we can see
c) the fire department can do a thermal imaging check of the surrounding structure around the chimney to insure the fire has not spread
d) if need be, you can get a fire report if you need to file any insurance claims
e) if the fire does spread beyond the chimney, it's always really nice to know you've got 10-20 guys with a truck parked out front that can put 1,500 gallons on a fire in a minute or so