Structure fires seems common.... (Bangor, Belfast: insurance, house, live)

[Elcarim]

I've been noticing that house fires are pretty common up there. Is it because of the wood heating being so prevalent? It's a little scary for me to imagine, since house fires don't happen quite that often here.

There was a home lost near Belfast in today's news. They said the wood stove burned through the floor.

So, how can we protect ourselves from this kind of loss?

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by Elcarim

I've been noticing that house fires are pretty common up there. Is it because of the wood heating being so prevalent? It's a little scary for me to imagine, since house fires don't happen quite that often here.

There was a home lost near Belfast in today's news. They said the wood stove burned through the floor.

So, how can we protect ourselves from this kind of loss?

1. CLEAN YOUR CHIMNEYS/stovepipes I am not sure what is the appropriate rule of thumb there, but burning pine and fir out west, for cooking year round, we did it at LEAST twice to at most 4 times a year. As far as I know you cannot do it too often.

2. TEND your stove. We didn't have a stove that would hold a fire like these modern ones, but unless someone was home we never left it with a fire burning. embers... the end of a fire, unfed yes.. but not active.

3. Have fire extinguisher(s) and keep them current.

4. Make sure your stove is properly installed.

That's what comes to mind from my (non-Maine) experience.

[399083453]

I bet new englanders "do-it-yourselfers" might have more to do with house fires. Bah, I can wire this house myself. LOL. If a wood stove burned through the floor, sounds like it wasn't installed correctly or in need of a new base which was never replaced.

Protect? Insurance? Hire a licensed person to install electrical, wires, woodstoves.

[KiddinAroundFarm]

As the wife of a former (will be again?) firefighter, I can say that I don't think we've really seen many more fires here than we did in Connecticut. Yes, the fires that we do have in the winter however, are more often than not caused by wood stoves, etc. But, Star is right. In order to protect yourselves, the best things to do are indeed to clean out stovepipes and chimneys OFTEN and to not leave a fire unattended. I do realize that people will argue that wood is the ONLY heat source they have, and they have to work, etc. but that's too bad. If there's not someone home, the fire needs to not be roaring. Simply put, would you leave a fire burning unattended in a fireplace and leave the house? NO? Then why would you leave one in a woodstove? Yes, it's contained, but the chimney/stovepipes are where the problems lie, not the woodstove or fireplace itself most times.

Also have heard the arguement "that's how they did it in the old days, so that's how we'll do it now". Yeah, well, back then wives stayed home, and were there to tend the fires mostly. Occasionally they did go out, but read some books and you'll find that the fires would burn out, and be restarted when returning to the home. Same for the morning. Someone would have to restart the stove.

Sorry if I'm preaching, but this is a serious and scary thing. People, don't play around with woodstoves. Even with hubby's experience, we ourselves had a woodstove stovepipe fire last year.... and thankfully because we were HOME and alert to the stove, we were able to stop it. 3 years ago, a firefighter in my hubby's former station almost lost his home to a woodstove stovepipe fire, because they left the house, and went to town. Learned his lesson, I'll tell ya.

Be safe.

[Elcarim]

Yeah, DH is also a firefighter. Most of the fires they make in homes, which are pretty few and far between are stove fires - not the heating kind! That would be where the hapless housewife accidently got her dish towel too close to the burner or left a pan of grease sizzling.

The majority of the calls they make are grass fires, auto accidents, vehicle fires and setting up the LZ for life flight.

Great info, Ladies! I've never had a fireplace or a woodstove, so I'm clueless. Someone will have to give us a primer when we get there!

[mollysmiles]

We recently had a horrible fire down our way in Perry, a wonderful family lost their home. No one was home at the time, and the Perry fire chief was immediately suspicious. The fire marshall arrived the next day and confirmed her suspicions...arson. They do have a suspect, but that's all I know right now.

When we lived in Bangor we also had a fire in the woodstove stovepipe. We also were able to stop ours, because we were home, but you have to be aware of the dangers, and be smart!

[Submariner]

I think that a primary issue is haivng stuff close to the stove. I have seen stoves a foot away from a wooden wall. I have seen stoves setting on a wood floor. I have seen stove pipes with lots of bends in them, bends form creosote and cause pipe fires.



I laid a concrete pad, one inch thick, eight foot by eight foot. We put the all-fuel stove in the center of it. So it has at least three foot of concrete on each of three sides from the stove. No wall near it, and no wood floor left exposed near it. The closest wooden wall is about twelve foot away.

Our stove pipe is straight vertical. Any creosote that should form in the pipe will likely fall straight down into the stove's secondary combustion chamber. I took the stove pipe apart this summer and scrubbed it out. [it really had very little build-up in it].

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by KiddinAroundFarm

Also have heard the arguement "that's how they did it in the old days, so that's how we'll do it now".

When we first moved "beyond the sidewalks" we often questioned how they did things in the old days and often our answer was "mostly they died a lot..." from a variety of things.

but in this case you are right, usually there was someone at home...

[Zymer]

I couldn't find the story, but it shouldn't be possible for a properly installed woodstove to burn through the floor below it. Proper installation means a fireproof surface under the stove.

If the stovepipe went straight up through the ceiling and a second-story floor, it might be possible for the upper floor to catch fire if the stove was over-fired or there was a chimney fire.

Proper installation of the stovepipe calls for an a space and material barrier where it passes through a wall or ceiling. A fire in the pipe can exceed 1,000 degrees in a relatively short time, I don't know how long a correctly installed pass-through can withstand that temp but it's a fairly good bet that an improper installation could be very dangerous in that situation.

Burning pine can lead to a significant increase in creosote build-up as opposed to burning hard wood such as oak. Wood having a higher moisture content can increase creosote, as can burning a fire which is too cool. Creosote build-up in the chimney/pipe can catch fire under the right conditions.

I've had two fires related to woodstoves. In the first, a burning ember exited the pipe outside and lodged against the wood siding, the wind was just right and the outside wall caught fire. Fortunately I was home and spotted it and was able to put it out before any significant damage was done. The second incident was a fire in the pipe of the kitchen stove which I was able to get under control before any damage was done.

If the house is going to be unattended, or we are going to sleep the woodstove gets damped down. I don't worry about the pellet stove since it has sensors that will cause it to shut down if it operates abnormally.

Practically any heating device that uses some form of combustion, or electricity, has a level of risk associated with it. CO poisoning from oil/kero heaters, propane/nat gas explosions, electrical fires, etc.

A woodstove just places more of the responsibility directly and immediately on the operator. Bad/old electrical wiring in your house can go unnoticed by the occupants for years, until it just goes *poof* without any user interaction at all.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Zymer

...
If the stovepipe went straight up through the ceiling and a second-story floor, it might be possible for the upper floor to catch fire if the stove was over-fired or there was a chimney fire.

Proper installation of the stovepipe calls for an a space and material barrier where it passes through a wall or ceiling. A fire in the pipe can exceed 1,000 degrees in a relatively short time, I don't know how long a correctly installed pass-through can withstand that temp but it's a fairly good bet that an improper installation could be very dangerous in that situation.

'Proper planning prevents pi$$ poor performance'

Our stove pipe was done in a manner where it never comes into contact with anything burnable.

A steel stove pipe going through a steel roof through steel flashing both above and below allows this to happen.

I would recommend that everyone take the time to conduct proper planning in their projects.