Fire Prevention Month: Wood Stove and Fireplace Safety

10/28/2019 (Permalink)

The climate in Wisconsin usually feels a handful of freezing temps a few short weeks before winter finally decides to set up camp in the Midwest and stick around for an extended period of several months.

Using a modern-day wood stove has many advantages over traditional models. The newer models use high-grade glass-ceramic on the front, which can withstand higher temperatures than other materials.

Even with a wood stove, people still enjoy the warmth generating from a fireplace. Whether it’s your primary or secondary source of heat, it’s important to always take extra safety measures against any fire emergencies.

To help you with some of those precautionary tasks, here are a few essential safety tips you can implement while using your fireplace or wood stove this winter.

Fireplace Safety:

• The best tactic for making sure your fireplace is safe to use for the winter season is to have regular visual inspections – both inside and out.

• If using a gas fireplace, make sure the flame burns blue. A yellow or orange flame is a sign that something is wrong, and that you need to contact a licensed technician immediately.

• Finally, always open the damper before lighting a fire. Don’t shut it until the ashes are cold to avoid the risk of a burn.

• Proper fireplace ventilation is essential to fireplace safety. When looking outside, be sure to inspect the chimney cap, since it keeps foreign objects out of your home while preventing hot embers from flying out of your chimney and on to your roof. You should also check above your fireplace to assess whether the mortar is intact and to ensure there is no physical damage.

• Check the integrity of the chimney plumb on the roof to make sure it has not begun to tip to one side. A tilting chimney is a sign of a bigger structural problem and requires immediate inspection.

• If you have household equipment that vents carbon monoxide, be sure not to run it while using your fireplace. Make sure the vents in each room of your house are open, as well. This will prevent any gas or fumes from getting trapped and accumulating inside a single room. 

• Consider getting a fire screen. These areinexpensive and don’t require installation. Purchase your chosen screen and stand it in front of the fire. It’s a simple item, but it plays a considerable part in fire safety by shielding people, furniture, and carpets from errant sparks.

Wood-burning Stove Safety:

• Proper wood-burning stove maintenance is essential. One tip is to make sure to clean the wood stove properly to remove all ash before you use it for the first time in the winter, as well as before each subsequent use through the season.

• The chimney used with a wood-burning stove must be mason-built or manufactured in a factory. You cannot use metal chimneys or single-brick chimneys as they deteriorate and may pose a fire hazard over time. Older homes that have double-bricked chimneys should be inspected for any deterioration in the lining or loose mortar before using a wood-burning stove.

• If using coal in your stove, do not use a metal chimney as the fumes from that particular resource will corrode the metal almost instantly. In this case, your metal chimney will need to be uninstalled and inspected.

• Do not under any circumstances use a smoke duct that has previously been used with an oil burner. The unburned vapors will ignite backward into the wood-burning stove and your home.

• Your stove should always be on a stable surface.Unlike fireplaces, stoves can be positioned wherever you like. It’s crucial to position stoves on a durable, fireproof surface. Brick and tile are ideal places for a stove to rest. Regular maintenance, cleaning, and sensible precautions when choosing the wood and starting a fire, all contribute to fire and stove safety.  

One last important matter is to make sure you are disposing of the ashes correctly. Many home fires are started because of fireplace ash. A buildup of ash can also shorten the life of the fireplace. Ashes must be raked out regularly – always use an ash shovel. If possible, wait 24 hours from when the fire burned out before raking the ashes. Store ashes in a metal ash bucket outside of the home, and away from fallen leaves, wood or kindling. Only transfer ashes to the trash when they have cooled down.

At SERVPRO of West Brown County, we understand with all of the precautions you take to ensure a safe environment within your home, unexpected emergencies can happen. If you end up with fire, smoke, or soot damage in your residence our trained technicians use the appropriate equipment, expertise, and experience to restore things.

We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call us at, (920) 434-8224.