Plainfield home damaged by fire blamed on poorly installed stove pipe

[MacPB]

Plainfield home damaged by fire blamed on poorly installed stove pipe
By DON BOND
For The Norwich Bulletin
Posted Oct 16, 2009 @ 11:00 PM
Plainfield, Conn. —
Fire investigators say an improperly installed vent pipe for a wood stove caused a blaze early Friday that damaged a Plainfield home.

The fire, at the 1039 Norwich Road home of Luke Edmons, was reported at 12:52 a.m. Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control in a little more than an hour, although units remained on the scene into the early morning doing mop-up work.

Fire Marshal Paul Yellen said Edmons told him he purchased the two-story cape earlier this year, and recently had completed installing the wood stove and vent pipe.

Yellen said heat from the vent pipe ignited an exterior wall in the kitchen. The flames traveled to an attic above the kitchen, causing the second floor to fill with smoke and damaging the attic as well as the kitchen. Firefighters had to break through a skylight on the roof to vent the fire from the upper level of the home, he said.

“The homeowner had neglected to have the stove and pipe inspected after he completed the installation,” Yellen said.

Yellen said Edmons and his companion, Nicole Roy, awakened to smell smoke in the house and discovered the fire. They were able to escape the burning house with their two dogs.

Yellen said the house did not have smoke detectors.

“This could have been a much more tragic event,” he said.

Firefighters from Plainfield, Central Village and Moosup, along with the Atwood Hose Co. FAST team, battled the fire. The Canterbury department were on standby at the Plainfield station.

Yellen said the house is uninhabitable. The couple planned to stay with relatives, he said.


(broken link removed to http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/x185904126/Plainfield-home-damaged-by-fire-blamed-on-poorly-installed-stove-pipe?view=print)

 

[SolarAndWood]

I hate to hear stories like that and can only guess how the discussion with the insurance company is going to go. Thankfully no one was hurt.

 

[John_M]

SolarandWood X1

This is another unfortunate example of how, when fire is involved, one should never, ever compromise on safety to save dollars.

 

[MacPB]

This is another unfortunate example of how, when fire is involved, one should never, ever compromise on safety to save dollars.

Just thought I would bump up a couple threads in case there were any new visitors that might want to "weigh" the costs of saving money versus saving lives.

 

[n3pro]

"Yellen said the house did not have smoke detectors."

I get so tired of reading this, they are not that expensive people, some fire companies give them away during fire safety week.

 

[dave11]

Does anyone have a guess though about what exactly was installed wrong? Could it only have been improper clearance of the pipe going through the kitchen wall?

 

[heppm01]

Does anyone have a guess though about what exactly was installed wrong?

It may just be sloppy reporting, but a wood stove shouldn't be using "vent pipe".

 

[rowerwet]

my parents have a vacation cottage in maine, it has a chimney/fire place that I think must be older than the house, it was made to have three flues, two were completed the third stops at the base of the fireplace. The chimney has some sort of metal bands around the bricks at different levels, it reminds me of chimneys from colonial era houses, The cottage was built in the '50s.
we were all at the cottage for the weekend one fall day, my dad had the fireplace going all day, around 8pm I left to take get gas and take a drive along the beach. When I came back to the house I saw a car come zipping down the street and skid to a stop at the house next door, a guy jumped out and ran up to me saying "which house is it?!". I had no Idea what he was talking about then noticed my family standing out in the dark and cold next to the house.
Turned out they had all gone to bed, then the fire alarm went off, they called the fire department after it went off a second time, the guy who skidded in was a volunteer fire fighter, soon followed by many others and two engines. It turned out that the back of the fire place was cracked and one of the joists for the house sits on a ledge in the back of the chimney, burning the fire all day had heated the wood in the wall and joist to the point it was smoldering, they ended up removing the wall behind the chimney very carefully with an ax. Due to the fact that it was a volunteer fire department we also got a card from the carpenter (who fixed the wall), a card from the mason ( who fixed the chimney), and a card from the plumber who noticed a leak in the pipes while in the crawlspace.
The wood they removed was charred in a few different areas some that weren't even hot when removed, this wasn't the first time it happened.

 

[Birdman1]

Plainfield home damaged by fire blamed on poorly installed stove pipe
By DON BOND
For The Norwich Bulletin
Posted Oct 16, 2009 @ 11:00 PM
Plainfield, Conn. —
Fire investigators say an improperly installed vent pipe for a wood stove caused a blaze early Friday that damaged a Plainfield home.

The fire, at the 1039 Norwich Road home of Luke Edmons, was reported at 12:52 a.m. Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control in a little more than an hour, although units remained on the scene into the early morning doing mop-up work.

Fire Marshal Paul Yellen said Edmons told him he purchased the two-story cape earlier this year, and recently had completed installing the wood stove and vent pipe.

Yellen said heat from the vent pipe ignited an exterior wall in the kitchen. The flames traveled to an attic above the kitchen, causing the second floor to fill with smoke and damaging the attic as well as the kitchen. Firefighters had to break through a skylight on the roof to vent the fire from the upper level of the home, he said.

“The homeowner had neglected to have the stove and pipe inspected after he completed the installation,” Yellen said.

Yellen said Edmons and his companion, Nicole Roy, awakened to smell smoke in the house and discovered the fire. They were able to escape the burning house with their two dogs.

Yellen said the house did not have smoke detectors.

“This could have been a much more tragic event,” he said.

Firefighters from Plainfield, Central Village and Moosup, along with the Atwood Hose Co. FAST team, battled the fire. The Canterbury department were on standby at the Plainfield station.

Yellen said the house is uninhabitable. The couple planned to stay with relatives, he said.


(broken link removed to http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/x185904126/Plainfield-home-damaged-by-fire-blamed-on-poorly-installed-stove-pipe?view=print)

Darwin escapees?