Pellet Stove Fire damages Manchester assistant police chief's home

Hello

The pellet stove was a Window Pellet Stove!

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120217/NEWS07/702179937

By PAT GROSSMITH
UnionLeader.com

ASSISTANT MANCHESTER POLICE CHIEF GARY SIMMONS, center, talks with District Fire Chief Al Poulin outside Simmons' fire-damaged home. Poulin said the fire, which caused about $50,000 in damage, happened in the area of a window pellet stove. PAT GROSSMITH PHOTO/UnionLeader.com

MANCHESTER - A 10-minute fire caused $50,000 in damage Friday morning to the home of Assistant Police Chief Gary Simmons.

A neighbor across the street from 154 Peak St. reported the blaze after seeing smoke about 8:45 a.m. coming from the single family, two-story home.

District Fire Chief Al Poulin, who happened to be dropping off paperwork in the fire dispatch office, heard the call and immediately headed out to the scene.

“When I drove up, fire was coming from the pellet stove area,” he said. The stove was in a window off the dining room/kitchen area.

The first to arrive, he broke down a door but heavy smoke kept him from entering the home. No car was in the driveway or garage, a good indicator that no one was home, Poulin said.

As it turned out, no one was home but Engine 5 firefighters, who arrived shortly after Poulin, entered the home and did a “primary search” of the basement, first and second floors.

I think we have seen this before, not a good thing.

yes, that is about 3 fires min. that I know of that the window stove caused. Also the top of the burn chamber gets pretty scorched up too! The $50K damage is the most damage I have seen from this $1700.00 stove too!

However a new window and a few boards of siding should not cost $50,000 dollars! That seems like half the price of the house! The land maybe worth more. I know the price is jacked so the insurance company will cough up enough to fix it! What a game!

I wonder what caused this. We have just started offering the window pellet stove models and am now not sure if we should sell em

We have seen evidence of the area above the burn pot burning through you can figure it out from there.

Well just set one up for display and run it for a while. But do not leave the stove for too long!
Maybe if you find the cause we can all rest better!

Just for chits and giggles AbetterChimneynm looky here http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/u-s-stove-window-mount-firebox-exhaust-vents-cracking.83120/

I will check it out, we have been burning one for about a month and have yet to be able to get it to burn on any setting higher then low

Once again...US Stove Co. People new to this forum should start to see a trend here.

He was lucky he did not have one of the larger US Stoves!

You might want to get a hold of the folks at USSC and ask if the feed rates are programmable on that unit. Some of their stoves have been known to escape into the wild with a high low burn rate programmed into them so to speak.

yep, but the owner sure saved money buying that cheap unit in the first place, didnt he?! Score!

You have to take into account the smoke, water, and heat damage which can exceed the actual burned structure cost (both material and labor).

smoke does more damage than fire in most cases

Also alot more damage from Water and Axes the firemen use!