Five Steps to Prevent a Chimney Fire in Your Home

When you think of chimney fires, you may envision the dramatic images of flames shooting out of the top of the fireplace often seen on the nightly news. These types of chimney fires are rare.

The fact is, most chimney fires are quiet and slow burning. Often times, you never know one happened until after the damage is discovered. That’s why it is so important that you schedule an annual fireplace inspection.

During the inspection, a certified chimney sweep will look for signs of damage, including evidence of previous fires. According to the Chimney Safety Institute of America, the majority of chimney fires go unnoticed until discovered during an annual inspection. 

A previous chimney fire, especially one that went unnoticed, can cause significant damage to both your chimney system and your home. Potential damage could include a melted or damaged roof, heat damage to the ceilings, walls, or structural beams near the chimney.

The experts at mychimney.com note that, “The most dangerous consequence of a chimney fire is that it creates pathways for carbon monoxide to enter your home and destroys the defenses that protect against a future house fire. If the damage is not repaired, a stray spark or second chimney fire could easily escalate to a house fire.”

The best way to prevent a chimney fire in your home is to keep your chimney clean. In addition to inspecting your chimney, a certified chimney sweep will clean the flue and remove any debris, such as twigs or animal nests.

Most fires are caused by a build-up of creosote on the inner walls of the chimney. Creosote is the dangerous and highly flammable byproduct caused by burning wood. It can be sticky, like tar, or hard and crusty.

A build-up of creosote in your chimney can be dangerous. According to the Family Handyman, if the internal temperature in the flue is hot enough or if flames or sparks reach the creosote, then a chimney fire is probable.

Simply stated – clean chimneys do not catch fire. A chimney sweep, certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America, is trained in how to thoroughly clean a fireplace. By scheduling a chimney inspection each spring (after fire season) and a cleaning each fall (before you start using your fireplace again), you can help prevent a chimney fire from occurring in your home. 

Getting your chimney inspected and cleaned is just one of many  tips on how to prevent house fires this winter and all year round.

Professional chimney cleanings will remove flammable creosote from your fireplace flue. But you can help prevent creosote from building up in the first place by burning “clean” fires.

Bobvila.com recommends burning only seasoned hardwood that has been dried for at least six months and contains a low moisture content -- so be sure to keep your outdoor wood pile covered. And the Family Handyman adds this helpful hint – do not burn evergreen wood in your fireplace because it tends to pop and spark more than hardwood. This creates a fire hazard.

The home improvement experts at bobvila.com also suggest that you use safe fire starters – never gasoline or kerosene – to start a fire in your fireplace. If you prefer to use kindling, old newspaper and dry pinecones make good tinder. Never use cardboard, wrapping paper, or glossy magazine pages because these contain chemicals that can emit toxins into your home when burned.

How you burn is just as important as what you burn. Hot, fast-burning fires produce less smoke and leave little unburned wood behind, so little to no creosote forms. To build a clean-burning fire, use the top-down method – place large logs at the bottom of the fireplace, add a few layers of kindling, top with tinder, and then light it.

The Family Handyman warns to never put paper on top of a fire. You should place paper under the grate so burning fragments don’t rise up the flue and possibly cause a chimney fire.

And always be sure to fully extinguish the fire before you go to sleep or leave the house.

Another way to reduce creosote build-up is to keep the damper fully open when you are burning a fire in your fireplace. Restricted air supply from a partially closed damper can cause creosote to build-up.

As the Chimney Safety Institute of America explains it, “the longer the smoke’s ‘residence time’ in the flue, the more likely it is that creosote will form.”

Debris in the chimney flue, such as leaves or animal nests, can catch fire when loose embers rise up the flue. To help prevent chimney fires, bobvila.com advises homeowners install a chimney cap.



It is installed on the outside opening of the flue at the top of the chimney. A chimney cap will keep debris and critters (and their homes) out of the fireplace. The cap will also prevent “back puffing” – that’s when escaped smoke from a fire re-enters the chimney and then the home.

A roaring fire can be romantic, but it can also be dangerous. More than 25,000 Americans will experience fire damage this year due to a chimney fire – resulting in more than $25 million in property damage. You don’t need to add to these statistics. You can prevent a chimney fire from happening in your home by following the five simple steps outlined in this article.

• https://www.csia.org/chimneyfires.html
• https://www.mychimney.com/blog/chimney-fire-signs/
• https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/how-to-avoid-chimney-fires-this-winter/
• https://www.bobvila.com/articles/chimney-fires