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Chimney fires, it's that time of year.
We've changed our methods of fighting chimney fires quite a bit in the last 5 years or so, I remember we used to fllod them with water, not such a good idea anymore. Now we wont use water unless we feel it's going to turn into a structure fire. We use "dry chemical bombs" now and they work great. Take dry chemical and put it in a plastic zip lock bag and drop it down, the bag melts right away and the dry chemcial falls down, a lot less mess than taking a extinguisher up on the roof. We carry these bags already done up on our trucks. What else do you do for chimney fires?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dennis Brown on
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Yes we used them for years they work wonders i thought it was not going to work the first time they tried them better then the old flares
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Permalink Reply by Teia Kenyon on
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My dept uses chimfex sticks, we also carry the dry chemical bombs. of course water is used only if needed.
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Permalink Reply by rfdjumper on
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What we've done for years is set a ppv fan in the door, pressurize the room. get a dry chem, aim up the chimney, squeeze the trigger for a couple of seconds. Whammo, fires out, and the powder goes up and out. Real quick and very clean.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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I've never had much luck with the flares, personally. In fact I don't know if you can get them anymore since the factory burned down a couple of years ago.
We have a chimney can on two of our pumpers. Contents are heavy gloves, fire-proof blanket, inspection mirror, chimney bombs (as described above), a fireplace shovel and a chiney flare that has to be about as old as I am.
The tool box and chimney can goes to the wood stove location while other teams ladder the roof and check upper levels and void spaces for extension. The can is used to clean out the fuel from the appliance, and we have the tools to disassemble the chimney connector for inspection. We generally invite the owner/occupant of the structure outside while we do our thing inside.
Once the firebox fire is out, we use brushes or chains to clean any remaining creosote chunks and embers out if the flue. Another inspection of void spaces, a summons issued to the owner/occupant, and back home.
If there is any suspicion as to the integrity of the wall pass-thru we immediately expose it regardless of any decorative brick or stone work.
We've only used water a couple of times on masonry chimney fires, and in both cases it was clear that the fire was between the clay flue and the block. In these cases the chimney is already defective, so flooding it with water makes sense. In fact, with both cases we wound up tearing the entire chimney down to make sure the fire was out; flooding didn't help.
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Permalink Reply by T.J. on
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" We use brushes or chains to clean any remaining creosote chunks and embers out if the flue."
Joe we dont do this anymore do to the liability of the fireplace breaking or becoming damaged, plus our white hats say "we're not chiney cleaners", I don't really like the rule because we're already there, but I guess. We get about 30 chimney fires a year and sometimes 2 at the same time, so I guess they don't want to waste their time on it.
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"Checking for extension through cracks into the walls, attic, or void spaces is a must."
Your so right there Ted, you don't want to return to a structure fire.
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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We have an array of differant ways to clear the clog from the chimney which is causing the fire. Our best method is we have a weight which is encased in chicken wire. It is attached to a thin cable and from the top of the stick (yes I said stick, don't tell Mick) we will drop the weight down the chimney. This in affect will cause the burning debris down into the stove/fireplace where firefighters will have already cleaned out the burning material in the firebox and are waiting with a water can and a steel bucket to catch the debris. The fire is deemed out when we can make a visual of no burning debris in the chimney with a mirror and flashlight shown from the opposite end. We check for extension on EVERY chimney fire whether it appears to be encased in the pipe or half-way up a brick/stone chimney. Spraying water in a chimney is a cardinal sin and can cause an explosive reaction of flying bricks and morter. It also could crack a woodstove. I personally am not willing to assume that risk.
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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This topic came up in the "Unusual Things That Work" thread. As I'm lazy I'll just paste my answer from there, to here:
I was taught that with a chimney fire, if there's still a good hot fire in the fireplace, throw a glass of water onto it - let the steam/water vapour go up the chimney and do the work.
The few I've been to had the home owner being given the advice "Have your chimney cleaned". At the Brigade I'm with now we use a garden hose fitting on it's wide spray setting and lower it down the chimney, using very little pressure. Very little water actually makes it down to the bottom. Works well.
Like others I should also add that we check very carefully for extensions The TIC is handy for this. We don't get many of these fires and don't want to be called back later to a house fire.
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Permalink Reply by kenny goines on
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USING WATER IN A HOT CHIMNEY AT ALL IS JUST ASKING TO BE CALLED BACK LATER BECAUSE IT CRACKED AND NOW THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE. IN MY OPINION IS A PPV FAN AND A DRY CHEM EXTINGUISHER IS THE BEST, I HAVE NEVER USED THE CHIMNEY BOMBS BUT I CAN SE HOW THAT WOULD WORK WELL TOO.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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TJ... I've been doing this gig for 30+ years and I've never seen or heard of "bombs" for chimney fires. I'm thinking that this may be a left coast thing?
Every time I have responded to one of these types of incidents, a water extinguisher with your finger over the end of the nozzle, creating a fan pattern and applied for a couple of seconds seemed to always put the fire out, allowing the water to convert to steam, expanding and putting out the fire. I have never had any issues involving cracked fireplaces or water damage. It does not snow where I live, maybe this has something to do with ambient temperatures or something? Regardless, we do use a thermal imaging camera to ensure that there was no extension into the walls or attic space.
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Sorry bout the caps lock, i'm at work, and the CAD dont like little letters nothin personal
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