TULSA, Okla. — With the cold weather outside, people might want to lounge by the fireplace to warm up.
There are steps they need to take, however, to avoid potential disaster. 2 News Oklahoma sat down with an area expert for some safety tips.
A big thing is to clean the flue on a regular basis. Although, the biggest mistake Bill Shouse from Burggraf Distaster Restoration sees is not opening the flue when the fire is running.
"You got to have that open and get rid of the smoke," the large loss manager at Burggraf told us. "Secondly, a lot of times what we see is people will have a fireplace that's designed for a specific temperature, but they build way too big of a fire in it. And that heat overheats the box and therefore transfers heat to your framing members around that box and will start a fire."
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Shouse said fireplace owners should probably go with their manufacturer's recommendations for that.
Fires confined to chimneys, flues, or fuel burners comprised 77% of residential heating fires each year between 2017 and 2019, according to the latest U.S. Fire Administration data available.
Residential heating fire occurrences peaked in January at 20% during the same years before bottoming out during the summertime.
With that in mind, now is the time to practice caution. Summertime, however, is when Shouse recommends having a professional come in since they won't be as busy.
"Have a professional come in," he said, "just take a look at your chimney, at the flu tiles, make sure that they're not all covered with creosol at were issues that will cause a fire inside the fireplace."
He also suggested having the fireplace checked out at least every other year, if not every year.
People must also consider the setup of their fireplace.
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"If you have a fireplace as a brick front or rock front, if you have any separation in the actual face of the brick and your firebox," Shouse pointed out, "that's a big, big hazard for heat to get out and [can] cause a fire right behind your fireplace."
A door and screen in front of the fireplace is also a must-have.
Shouse said to always keep the door at least slightly open, if not fully open, so that there's some draw.
However, never run a fire with the doors completely shut.
"That overheats the doors themselves, especially if you got a new fire, hot fire, and takes a chance of breaking the glass," he emphasized. "But you always have those doors open and the screens closed, so that when embers crack and pop, they don't pop out on your carpet and start a fire in the living room."
Another thing he said to do is keep any flammables off the hearth and away from the fireplace, like newspapers.
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