Alternative heating options increase fire risks
As temperatures across the region hover around zero, many area residents are breaking out their space heaters and piling a few extra logs in their wood-burners to try and fight off the frigid chill.
And while wood-burners in particular are a great way to keep a house warm, the intense heat emitted from wood stoves and the chimneys used to vent them can become a danger.
“The main thing we see with wood burners are chimney fires,” Perry Township Fire Department assistant chief A.J. Boni said, noting that chimneys need to be inspected and cleaned annually. “We have people who don’t clean their flues and their chimney heats up and next thing you know, they have a fire.”
And fires, in the frigid temperatures, are exactly what area firefighters are hoping to avoid.
Significant house fires have been reported across the county in the last month, with two fires in the last week displacing a family in Uniontown and in Stewart Township.
And a fire Thursday in West Brownsville resulted in multiple problems as volunteer firefighters battled frozen trucks and hydrants and extreme cold.
Scott Dolan, Hiller Volunteer Fire Department chief, said that his department was activated for the fire in West Brownsville and said that combating the blaze in the cold certainly raises the level of safety concerns.
“You have all that water runoff and slipping on the freezing water becomes an issue,” Dolan said. He too urged residents to make sure chimneys are clear before using fireplaces and wood-burners in an effort to try and stop fires complicated by cold temperatures from occurring in the first place.
“In a lot of cases, we see chimneys that haven’t been cleaned for a number of years,” Dolan said. “You get bird’s nests that catch fire or the creosote that builds up inside the chimney gets overheated and a fire results.”
Dolan recommends an annual chimney inspection and cleaning by a professional to ensure the safety of a residence — not just from fire, but from issues arising from carbon monoxide, too.
“Over time the mortar breaks down and the faulty chimney pushes the carbon monoxide back into house,” Dolan said.
Boni said that in addition to regular chimney cleanings, residents should also install a carbon monoxide detector to ensure the health and safety of the inhabitants.
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, about 50,000 residential fires were reported each year between 2008 and 2010, resulting in hundreds of deaths and more than 1,000 injuries.
Information gathered from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) found that fires sparked by home heating methods are the second most common behind blazes started by fires in the kitchen.
NFIRS reports indicate that residential fires from home heating peak every year in January, in conjunction with colder weather in much of the country.
About 30 percent of house fires caused by heating malfunctions are sparked by combustibles being placed too close to heat sources, NFIRS reports showed.
Dolan said that such fires are very common when a space heater is being used to help heat a home, noting that fires involving space heaters often begin because the heater has been placed too close to a curtain or some clothing.
He said that space heaters can also present a significant fire hazard because they are improperly plugged in.
“The problems we have noticed most over the years with space heaters comes back to the use of extension cords or a power strip outlet and using mismatched sized electrical cords,” Dolan said. “The cord heats up and melts and catches something else on fire. Space heaters are designed to be plugged directly into the outlet.”
He said that purchasing a good, oil-filled heater and properly plugging it in can go a long way to reducing the possibility of a house fire caused by the use of a space heater.
Boni agreed and said that in the end, many fires can be prevented simply by using common sense.
“Be careful how you heat things, don’t do anything that seems risky, like carrying hot ashes from a wood burner outside in a plastic bucket, and make sure chimneys are clear of debris and space heaters are placed in safe areas,” he said.