There’s something incredibly satisfying
about listening to the sound of burning firewood and enjoying the
extra warmth of the living room with your family on a cold evening?
as long as your fire is safely contained in a fireplace. Fortunately,
it’s relatively easy to keep the fire in your fireplace under
control by taking a few key precautions. Keep these tips in mind
before, during, and after you have a fire crackling merrily.
Before You Light a Fire
If you?re adding a new fireplace, turn to the professionals.
If you?re installing a fireplace in a home that you?re
building or adding a fireplace to an existing structure, you should
always use licensed professionals. Licensed installers should ensure
that the area of installation is heat-proofed and the fireplace is
properly vented.
Install smoke detectors. Your home should have smoke
detectors regardless of whether or not you have a fireplace, but it’s
a good idea to check on your existing smoke detectors before lighting
a fire in the fireplace. Push the test button and listen for an alarm
to ensure that the battery is open, and spray a can of smoke detector
aerosol to see if the smoke detector is working. Make sure you have a
working smoke detector in every sleeping area, but not near the
fireplace, as this will cause false alarms.
Set up a safety gate. If you have pets or young children,
it’s especially important that you set up a safety gate to keep
them away for the fireplace. Even if your fireplace is covered by
glass, you still need a safety gate, since the glass can get
incredibly hot and cause serious injury if a child touches it.
Open the damper so that gasses will be vented through the
chimney. This is typically done by pulling the handle on your
fireplace all the way to the right. You can check to see if the
damper is all the way open by shining a flashlight up into the
fireplace.
While a Fire is Burning
Add only dried, cut firewood. Stick to firewood or dry
fallen tree limbs for your kindling, and avoid charcoal, flammable
liquids, trash, damp wood, and painted or pressure-treated wood.
Open the glass door. If your fireplace has a glass door,
you should open it while the fire is burning to prevent the build-up
of creosote (flammable black tar) in your chimney. Leave the mesh
screen in front of your glass door closed, however, in order to keep
embers from getting into the room and starting a fire.
Always keep an eye on the fire. Never light a fire and then
leave the room or your house. An adult should always be supervising
the fire from the time it is lit to the time its ashes are cold.
After the Fire is Out
Spread out logs and embers. Don?t use water when you?re
ready to put your fire out, as this can damage the bricks of your
fireplace. Instead, use the fire poker to carefully spread out any
still-burning logs and embers, then use the fireplace shovel to cover
those logs and embers with ash. Remember, you?ll need to keep an
eye on the fireplace until the ashes are cool.
Close the glass door and damper. You?ll need to do this
to prevent potentially harmful air from the chimney from getting into
your home. Give the glass door and the damper (which is often metal)
time to cool down before you close them.
Dispose of the ashes the next day. Give the ashes in your
fireplace at least a night to cool down. Once they?re cool, you
should moisten them and dispose of them in a metal trash can outside
of your home.
It’s always better to be safe than sorry when you?re using a
fireplace?keep all these tips in mind, and get even more safety
advice from Northshore Fireplace’s infographic.
