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Chimney fire prompts warnings
Smoke and flames destroyed a chimney that caught fire Friday morning at a home on Ridge View Trail. This photo and more are available through MyCapture at www.scntx.com. Photo: Danny Gallagher | McKinney Courier-Gazette
BY DANNY GALLAGHER, McKinney Courier-Gazette
A fireplace might make a perfect holiday setting, but if your chimney hasn't been properly cleaned, it could also make a perfect fire hazard.
McKinney police officials said a chimney caught fire Friday morning at a home in the 400 block of Ridge View Trail due to a buildup of creosote in the flue.
John Cunningham said the home belongs to his mother, Josephine. He said she called him around 8:30 a.m. when she noticed smoke coming out of the walls. He ran over to the house to check on her from his house located just down the street and she called 911.
“What they noticed was they had some smoke in their house and they checked it out and they basically determined they needed to call the fire department,” Wallace said. “Using our thermal imaging cameras, we traced the fire to the walls.”
Wallace said fire crews had to cut through the chimney and some of the surrounding walls to put out the fire.
The fire spread through and destroyed the chimney, but left the rest of the house almost untouched with the exception of some smoke damage.
“The soot in the chimney hadn't been cleaned out, and that ignited the heat from the fire Š and extended to nearby combustibles between the first and second floor,” Wallace said.
Mr. Cunningham said his mother was alone when she discovered the smoke and was able to get out without suffering any injuries.
Wallace also said no one in the house or fighting the fire needed medical treatment.
Wallace said Friday's fire serves as a sad and important reminder that with the temperature dropping and more people using their fireplace to supplement their heating systems, they need to have the flue cleaned if they are going to burn a log or two in them.
“If you're going to burn in a wood-burning fireplace, they should have the flue cleaned out at least once a year and more often than necessary,” Wallace said. “As we're getting colder and people have fires in their fireplaces, this is a good example of what can happen.”
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.
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