With the arrival of cooler weather, people are firing up their fireplaces. The result has been a rash of chimney fires across the mid-state.
There's not much better on a cold night outside than a warm fire in the fireplace. But failure to properly maintain that fireplace or wood stove can be a costly mistake.
Jonathan Irwin has been a chimney sweeper for 25 years. He's been trained and certified by the National Chimney Sweep Guild.
A visit by a chimney sweeper entails three steps. First, the inside of the chimney or flue is cleaned of accumulated soot and creosote. Then using cameras or mirrors the sweeper looks for cracks in the lining or other problems that could lead to a fire. Finally he sits down with the homeowner to go over a checklist of findings and any recommendations.
It's the buildup of creosote that causes chimney fires.
"Smoke goes up the chimney. It creates a deposit like tar,” explained Jonathan Irwin, owner of Chimney Sweep Inc. “That leaves a deposit in there that at some point maybe the beginning of the year like now or some point in time it gets hot in the chimney and catches on fire. That's creosote on fire up in the flu."
Irwin says you can have a chimney fire and often not know it. In other cases, sparks or flames shooting out of the chimney leave no doubt.
He says it takes two maybe three chimney fires before it causes a house fire.
There's not much better on a cold night outside than a warm fire in the fireplace. But failure to properly maintain that fireplace or wood stove can be a costly mistake.
Jonathan Irwin has been a chimney sweeper for 25 years. He's been trained and certified by the National Chimney Sweep Guild.
A visit by a chimney sweeper entails three steps. First, the inside of the chimney or flue is cleaned of accumulated soot and creosote. Then using cameras or mirrors the sweeper looks for cracks in the lining or other problems that could lead to a fire. Finally he sits down with the homeowner to go over a checklist of findings and any recommendations.
It's the buildup of creosote that causes chimney fires.
"Smoke goes up the chimney. It creates a deposit like tar,” explained Jonathan Irwin, owner of Chimney Sweep Inc. “That leaves a deposit in there that at some point maybe the beginning of the year like now or some point in time it gets hot in the chimney and catches on fire. That's creosote on fire up in the flu."
Irwin says you can have a chimney fire and often not know it. In other cases, sparks or flames shooting out of the chimney leave no doubt.
He says it takes two maybe three chimney fires before it causes a house fire.