RE: Egads . . . I sometimes wonder if people even think . . . chimney fire

I was just leaving for work on Friday when the tones went off for a chimney fire at an apartment unit . . . I figured it was nothing until I started hearing reports of the fire not going out, the fire being between a liner and the brick chimney and one officer saying he could not close off a thimble because there was nothing to close it off with . . . so being curious I responded with a camera.

After the fire was finally knocked down with a good charge of water from a hose line the Assistant Chief said I should go in and take a look.

Egads . . . there were numerous thimbles in the place, but most were sealed up . . . except for the one thimble on the third floor which had a short junk of single wall stove pipe (maybe a foot) with nothing but a key damper in it. This was where the officer said he could not get it shut because it would not close all the way and apparently to the Lt. it looked like "Dante's Inferno" as apparently creosote was burning between the liner and the brick chimney.

Things got even better when I went to the basement only to find an unlisted steel woodstove with a 7-8 foot horizontal run to the chimney (I'm still not quite sure how they hooked up the liner), the woodstove was literally within 5-7 inches of a 1/4 sheet of plywood being used as a heat shield of some sort, there was a large hole cut right above the woodstove so heat could rise to the apartment overhead and according to the Captain the large stash of firewood and flammable materials that I saw about 1-2 feet away from the stove were actually only inches away from the stove until he moved it.

Honestly . . . sometimes I think folks want to have a fire.

So, are you waiting for the pics to develop or something?

I know it's not funny....but.....

This does sound like a training film for "how to do everything wrong"! Geesh!

It sounds like they covered just about everything except using gasoline to start the fire.... (or did I miss that?)

Ken

Jeeeez they are just asking fo a fire.

what happens to people like this? Do you get the code inspector out there? Or do you just put the fire out for them and they are free to relite?
If they're doing this already, I assume they'll have no problem starting it back up because of the reasoning "It's the way I've always done it and never had problems".

Its another case of ignorance being dangerous. I am sure the people putting in the setup either didnt know it was this dangerous, but knew it was wrong, or didnt even realize that it was wrong at all. I am sure we are all doing things incorrectly and just dont realize it....

That being said, common sense goes a long way.............

sometimes we do Jake.

Not as crazy as you described, but I received idiot of the year award yesterday.

I don't play games in the house, but I have a boiler shed. My approach is if I have a fire no big deal as it is not by the house. With that said, I was dismissing two hazzards that caught up with me.

Long story short, I had an ember ignite a stack of papers (that shouldn't have been there) which then in turn ignited my water supply lines and also ignited the styrofoam insulation board throughout the entire shed. Thankfully, the shed itself is steel so no structural damage.

Then, my 600 gallonss of water storage drained out.

So, it snowed about 4 times this year. Last night was one of them and I was able to enjoy the snow and 60mph winds playing in mud digging up my lines and splicing in temp lines and at some point will have to do the insulation a different way.

I'm thinking thermal imaging camera.

Trying as hard as I could to avoid, "Pics or it didn't happen..."

Hold on a minute. I run an unlisted stove. Pretty sure the stove itself isn't the problem. It was the install, the chimney, and burning green wood.
Ever wonder how we as a species survived before UL.

they get off scot-free and go back out and do it all over again. Oh and some of them seem to end up in positions of power, like the senate and congress maybe? :lol:

No doubt Jake and other firefighters have saw more than I but I will admit I've been in some places that really scared the heck out of me. I guess folks really don't think too much. I recall one fellow coming one time when I was putting up a chimney. According to him, I could put 2 x 4's and plywood right up to the insulated chimney. No clearance was needed. I finally did convince him it might be a good idea to keep the material away from that hot piece of metal but he just could not understand why I wanted so much clearance. In addition to the clearance, there is no bare lumber near our chimney. Yes, I go a bit overboard by covering the lumber with sheet metal but I sleep very good too. There is absolutely nothing written that I know of that says you can not exceed codes!

"Yes, I go a bit overboard by covering the lumber with sheet metal but I sleep very good too. There is absolutely nothing written that I know of that says you can not exceed codes!"

If I understand you, and you aren't using spacers to keep the metal away from the wood, the metal will just conduct the heat to the wood, which isn't providing any insulation at all. Not sure I understood, because you obviously know what you're doing....

I feel your pain, Jake.

I then went home instead of going back to the station to download the photos to my work computer with the proper software on it . . . I'll see about posting an educational photo or two here today.

Captain condemned the chimney . . . referral sent to the Fire Inspector . . . based on the firefighting operation I think they have more concerns on their hands than relighting the stove as the crew had to do some ripping and tearing to get to the chimney and the various thimbles . . . not to mention the damage to the chimney itself.

Sounds a bit like my Dad . . . the fire in the shed he built around his OWB ended up costing him his house . . . investigators figured it was either electrical or an ember that ignited nearby combustibles which could have been the slabs, firewood or shed itself.

Nope . . . regular camera. I just went home afterwards instead of downloading the photos at work which is where I have the computer software for the camera.

Well the stove probably wasn't the problem . . . although it did look a little worse for wear. The point is that it is an unlisted woodstove meaning that it should have 36 inches of space around it to combustibles -- certainly not the few measly inches between it and the wallboard and other combustibles.

Nearby town just lost a house last week to a chimney fire that got into the walls; totaled and no insurance. Go figure. Be safe.
Ed

Here's some pics . . .

But I just cleaned the chimney yesterday! Great pics though sad. Common sense ain't.
Ed

I think the UL chimney comment is meant in tandem with the install description as someone who didn't have a clue or didn't want one. I'll give you 2 examples:

- My first stove, in my first apartment, was a dragon, though it was 1993. The property owner intended the apartment to be heated by wood and he did everything right - a great brick pad, double insulated pipe going out high enough out the roof, the stove was clean as a whistle and he and I spent hours splitting and stacking wood with me listening to his instructions on how to heat with wood and common sense.

- My FIL, who shall remain nameless, when DH told him that we wanted to start heating with wood and was going through the steps to install our Fireview, burst out with, "When we had a woodstove we just put it on the floor and opened a window!" No doubt, said woodstove was also found in someone's trash...



Fun pics, btw. Was it the property owner or tenant who was responsible for this mess?

All is okay Dan. Thanks for your concern.

Is that HVAC round duct I see used as a connector? With some asbestos tape to boot? Whoa.

As easy as it is to vilify someone for their sloppy safety standards, I have a hard time believing that anyone is that casual about their known risks, or that they have a deliberate wanton urge to inflict pain on others. Truly, most often it is attributable to a lack of knowledge, and a lack of money to do it correctly. Usually, the lack of money is the predominant reason.

What it does do is make you examine, and re-examine, your own choices and methods of burning. We might think we are all immune from mishap, and I do like my odds of not having anything this obvious occur, but I won't court fate by saying "never."