Toulouse. “A chimney is not an incinerator”
When is the risk of a chimney fire greatest?
When we relight the fireplaces, during the first cold. The arrival of cold logically leads to a resumption of chimneys and fires. Each year, the Haute-Garonne firefighters intervene between 270 and 300 times, mainly in winter, to block fires of this type with sometimes dramatic material consequences.
What explains these fires?
The deposit of the result in the duct which, by rising in temperature, can ignite. If there is too much soot, the fire is strong, it takes. Hence the need to carry out a chimney sweep at least once a year, and even twice if you use your fireplace very regularly to heat your home.
What prevention advice should be applied to avoid such a disaster?
First, regular sweeping entrusted to professionals, especially when the does not have a straight line. Then a chimney is not an incinerator. If we burn varnished wood, plastic, cardboard or even pallets, we will cause significant deposits. It is necessary to privilege the firewood, very dry. And it is also necessary to be careful with the ignition: of course, one does not use either solvent or hydrocarbon first to avoid burning and because the fire must rise in temperature in a progressive way. We must control the flames. A chimney flue is designed for fumes, not for evacuating flames.
What if the duct catches fire?
It is first necessary to evacuate the people present in the house and to call the 18. If possible, it is necessary to try to extinguish the initial hearth, where the wood is burning. In the case of an insert, the air inlets must be stopped. Without oxygen, the fire will go out. Even chosen from a house. Often one opens to evacuate the smoke but the air accelerates the combustion. It is better to have your living room filled with smoke than to lose your house.