Home Fireplace Safety

According to the Red Cross, home fires are the greatest disaster threat to your home and family.  The Red Cross provides a great amount of information about home fire safety and I urge everyone to develop a fire safety plan and to test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on a regular basis.

In addition, following these steps will help make your home fireplace experience more enjoyable:

• Have your Chimney & Fireplace Flue cleaned and inspected on an annual basis.
• Make sure your chimney cap is installed and fitted properly.
• Install Smoke & Carbon Monoxide detectors on every level of your home and sleeping areas, test them on a regular basis.
• Before lighting a fire, make sure your damper is fully opened.
• Always use properly seasoned fire wood, if left outside keep wood covered.  Wet wood can cause smoking issues and also can cause heavy tar buildup to accumulate in the smoke chamber and flue area.
• Never use scrap or treated wood or any type of charcoal or lighter fluid inside your home fireplace.
• When removing the ashes, use a metal container (NOT A PAPER BAG OR PLASTIC BUCKET) with a lid and store them outside as coals can remain hot for a few days.  Remember, it only takes one ember to start a fire.
• Have proper fireplace tools and a correctly sized grate.
• Keep a Chimfex Fire Extinguisher handy in case of emergency to safely put out a chimney fire.

* Over 200 people die across the nation each year from carbon monoxide poisoning and 10,000 cases of carbon monoxide injuries are diagnosed each year. Symptoms of low level carbon monoxide poisoning mimic the symptoms of common winter ailments such as (nausea, fatigue, headaches, dizziness and even seasonal depression), many cases are not detected until subtle, permanent damage to the brain, heart and other tissues and organs have occurred.