Chimney Fires

5/9/2018 (Permalink)

Your chimney and flue add architectural interest to your home, but the real function of your chimney is to take dangerous flue gasses from the wood stove, fireplace, or furnace out of your home safely. It helps the air in your household stay breathable, just like your windows in your kitchen vents, bathroom windows, and attic. However, unlike the other exhaust points in your home, wood stove and fireplace chimneys need a particular kind of care. 

In action, a chimney fire in your Rexburg home can be impressive and cause you to need fire damage repair from a professional remediation company such as SERVPRO. Indications there is a fire in your chimney includes plenty of dense smoke, a loud popping or cracking noise, and a hot, intense smell.

Chimney fires can be dramatic and noisy enough to be detected by people passing by or your neighbors. Dense smoke or flames could shoot out from the top of the chimney. It has been reported by homeowners that they were startled by a low rumbling sound which is reminiscent of a low flying airplane or a freight train.

Undetected Chimney Fires
Chimney fires which are slow-burning do not receive enough air or have the fuel to be visible or dramatic, and they many times go undetected until an inspection of the chimney later. However, very high temperatures are reached and can create as much damage to the chimney structure, and parts of the house close to it, as their more spectacular counterparts explosive fires.

Chimney Fires and Creosote
Wood stoves and fireplaces are made to contain wood-fuel fires safely while heating your home. Chimneys have the job of getting rid of combustion by-products, which are the materials made from burning wood, including water vapor, smoke, gasses, wood particles that are unburned, tar fog, hydrocarbon, and different minerals. As these materials are rising and flow into the cooler chimney, condensation occurs. The residue which that is left sticks to the inside walls of the chimney and is known as creosote.

Black or brown in appearance, creosote can be flakey and crust, shiny and hardened, or drippy and sticky. All forms can occur in a chimney. No matter the form it takes, creosote is very combustible, so if enough quantity builds up and the temperature of the inside of the flue is high enough, you could be dealing with a resulting chimney fire.

When a fire in your chimney damages your home, SERVPRO is always ready to help you clean up the mess and repair the damage. Smoke and odor remediation and indoor air quality are focal points of a SERVPRO service. It is, however, important to have your chimney regularly cleaned to try and avoid this problem in the first place.

SERVPRO of Rexburg/Rigby knows how damage chimney fires can be to your home. Give them a call as soon as possible after the fire is out at (208) 356-0263 so they can prevent further damages from occurring.