Top 5 Simple Ways to Prevent Home Fires

Home Chimmney fires

We lost our home and all our possesions, last year! Its was caused by a faulty joint in our fireplaces, sectional zero clearance chimmney, which had to be moved by the "Roofing Contractor, who had replaced our old roof with a new one. The workmen who did the job, hadnt properly reconstructed the sections , which allowed embers from our first fire, after the work was completed. The embers had time to smolder and created smoke which we noticed but couldnt exact its source, I decided to get a ladder from our garage to try and locate the source via the crawl space in a closet, As it was a November cold evening the house was buttoned tight , to keep out the cold. When I tried to open the front door, I noticed it was stuck and hard to open, as soon as I opened the door, flames shot out of our ducts . and soon the entire bead board ceiling was aflame!! We managed to get out just as the fire went out of control, The fire dept chief, explained that the fire was just wailting for enough oxegyn, to fully ignite. The only solution he gave was if you smell smoke but cant find its source,and there is no visible flames!! You should first be sure everyone i s safe and ready to evacuate the home if need be < DO NOT open any windows or doors that lead outside, call 911, and explain to the operator the circumstances and follow their directions , If we hadnt opened the outside doors the fire would have just smoldered, and could probably been extinquished w/out it being a fully engulfed major fire, > always be concerned with getting out, but if you have the options let the fire dept , determine the source if possible !

Larry & Kat Castle of AZ @ Nov 14, 2009 12:07:26 PM