Fire in the hole!
Oh, not really…
But, yesterday – August 1 – the chimney sweep, Doug Heil, was here and swept the chimney. I am ready for fall fires in the woodstove.
But, January, 2006, I DID have a fire in the hole…chimney. It was frightening on several fronts…
I was sound asleep at all of 10:30. The living room smoke detector went off and before I even jumped out of bed, the bedroom one chimed in – the wood burning stove chimney, well actually the stove pipe, was glowing red and the stove was trying to “breath” and smoke started pouring out so I grabbed Bob’s carrier and literally threw him in it, called to Karl to “load up”. Karl was out the front door and by the garage door before I got to the garage. We were in the Jeep and down the driveway toute suite… but – no flames so I left the Jeep running (down past the house!) and tiptoed back – things looked a little calmer. It was VERY smoky but the stove had stopped heaving so I grabbed computers and small electronics – still no flames… opened windows and doors, took down the smoke alarms and removed batteries – they were all going off – it was pretty dramatic and VERY loud.
So… what to do. Ironically I did not call the Fire Department. I was due at my first meeting later that week, it was Sunday night and knowing the department is all volunteer – anyway, stupid but I thought, well, no flames and those guys are all home with families. So…. Moved the Jeep to a spot off the driveway by the road – came back to the house – moved the motorhome down the driveway past the house – moved pets and all stuff and me into the motorhome. About midnight, the smoke had cleared so I put fresh batteries in all the alarms and reset them – none went off. About 1:30 a.m. the stove was stone cold so we went back in the house.
While I was sitting in the motorhome listening and expecting my house to burst into flames, I had a long think about whether I had made the right selections for fire insurance and what I would do if the house burned and it wasn’t as fun as it sounds. It took me the better part of the next week to “recover” – I realized after that I should have called the Fire Department right away. They have a chemical they use plus I would have had company, i.e. less stress versus sitting on my own and thinking about worse case scenarios. I would have been back in the house several hours sooner AND probably saved my chimney which was a $600 hit to replace.
The good news is I learned some things…
Doug Heil is a nice man, knows chimneys, knows wood – he inspected my wood source, was more than fair on charges and got there lickety split.
I need to be vigilant about the condition of my chimney and clean or have it cleaned regularly.
The local fire department crew LIVES for “the run”…don’t hesitate to call again!
My fire insurance is good, I KNOW what it is and what is covered and that I could rebuild and replace the “stuff” if I had to.
My dog and cat…and me as well – we do fine in an emergency…although Bob was a bit miffed at being literally tossed into the carrier.
…maybe not as miffed as I thought. I left the carrier open on this daybed and he went in on his own, not 2 days after the fire drill…
At any rate, neither pet panicked or ran which was a mini-“back of the mind” nightmare I had had on occasion when thinking through what I might need to do in event of a fire.
August 1 – the chimney is clean and ready for Fall.
**in response to questions about the 2nd chimney and the other “thing”…the 2nd chimney is for a wood cookstove in the kitchen. Previous owners had the cookstove but took it with them – I hope – someday to get one so have left the chimney. The other thing is the top of a “light tube” – like a small skylight.