- Dec 26, 2012
- 83
Ironically, I'm sitting here reading on hearth.com at home and I get a knock on the door. I look over to see a headlamp.....amish. I open the door to the amish neighbor boy who is out of breath because he just sprinted a quarter mile with a message. "Our house is on fire! Please call someone!"
So as I call 911 I tell the kid to go to the garage and get in my truck and I grab a couple extinguishers and the two chimfex chimney fire suppressors that I have by my furnace. Get their to find flames engulfing everything around the chimney. I know enough to know exactly whats happening. A crap ton of creosote is going crazy. I run inside. There is smoke in the house. Not good. They were running two different stoves. Lucky me I had a chimfex stick for each one. I threw them in and knew there wasn't much else to do besides go outside to watch and wait and see if it got big enough to ignite the house or crack the flue and escape through there. The snow on the roof may have saved the house because the flames were completely engulfing the chimney.
Thankfully the flames died down pretty quickly just as the cops and volunteer FD started to arrive. After everything dies down and the FD do their thing cleaning the chimney the chief and another firefighter come over to talk to the amish owner. I overhear the chief explaining that his guys found diapers in the stove. I never considered it before but I heard him explaining how not only the diaper itself but the urine can create a dangerous situation. Who would have thunk to burn the baby sh!t in the stove. Pure genius.
Anyway, the lessons are don't burn wet wood, clean your chimney, don't burn diapers, and you will never regret spending the money on a good supply of chimney fire suppressant products and even fire extinguishers. I may have saved my neighbors house tonight. Hard tellin.
So as I call 911 I tell the kid to go to the garage and get in my truck and I grab a couple extinguishers and the two chimfex chimney fire suppressors that I have by my furnace. Get their to find flames engulfing everything around the chimney. I know enough to know exactly whats happening. A crap ton of creosote is going crazy. I run inside. There is smoke in the house. Not good. They were running two different stoves. Lucky me I had a chimfex stick for each one. I threw them in and knew there wasn't much else to do besides go outside to watch and wait and see if it got big enough to ignite the house or crack the flue and escape through there. The snow on the roof may have saved the house because the flames were completely engulfing the chimney.
Thankfully the flames died down pretty quickly just as the cops and volunteer FD started to arrive. After everything dies down and the FD do their thing cleaning the chimney the chief and another firefighter come over to talk to the amish owner. I overhear the chief explaining that his guys found diapers in the stove. I never considered it before but I heard him explaining how not only the diaper itself but the urine can create a dangerous situation. Who would have thunk to burn the baby sh!t in the stove. Pure genius.
Anyway, the lessons are don't burn wet wood, clean your chimney, don't burn diapers, and you will never regret spending the money on a good supply of chimney fire suppressant products and even fire extinguishers. I may have saved my neighbors house tonight. Hard tellin.
Its a wonder you didnt smell that diaper smoke from a quarter mile.
