Short story: No. It’s not a bunch of hot air.
Long story:
With winter just around the corner, there’s nothing people would like to do more than just curl up around a nice roaring fire at their fireplace. The only problem is the unseen terror; a true threat to truth, justice, and the American way (so to speak); the dreaded flammable flue!
Fear the Red Brick Menace!
Chimney fires are highly destructive and highly disruptive. They can drain your finances, destroy your home, even kill you, (and worst of all: RUIN YOUR EVENING OF SIPPING HOT COCOA!) all while sounding like a 240 ton freight train speeding down a railway headed straight for your house.
The worst part of chimney fires is probably how easily preventable they are. Due to the seasonal nature of chimneys they tend to fall victim to one of humanity’s more foolish faults: out of sight out of mind. Chimneys only see any use for a small portion of the year; due to this many homeowners are uninformed about proper chimney maintenance.
Thus the homeowners will incorrectly assume that chimneys are low-maintenance holes to be forgotten about –damned to be cleaned sporadically only so they don’t look so bad and so that adorable, little, Edwardian era, English orphans can make a few pennies and do a little song and dance about how lovely it is to be a sweep.
Chim-chiminy chim-chiminy…
I digress, for how common and dangerous chimney fires are, they are laughably easy to avoid. The fact of the matter is simple: clean chimneys don’t catch fire. So then how do you make sure it’s clean? Simple! pay a little bit to get a good chimney sweep to inspect your chimney. I mean a real pro; the adorable orphan isn’t gonna cut it. Trust the pro; if you’re good then you’re good, but if it turned out your chimney was a ticking timebomb I’m sure you would have rather found that out the nice way.
Keep your family safe. Have a professional inspect your chimney. If you’re in the Fairfield county CT area Duke’s Chimneys LLC (203)648-2018 will hook you up with all the help you’ll need.
Everyone else can find a Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) certified professional chimney sweep near you through the CSIA’s website.
