23,600 REASONS TO SERVICE
ALL CHIMNEY TYPES REGULARLY
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, reports
that some 23,600 residential fires in the 50 states were related to solid fuel
appliances and equipment. An additional 5,500 fires were attributed to chimneys
and chimney connectors serving heating systems burning liquid and other fuels
(gas). As a result of these fires, 131 people died, 232 people were injured, and
total property
losses were set at more than $184.4
million.
In addition there were a minimum of 119 deaths from carbon monoxide and at
least 4,700 "injuries" reported for the same time frame, though most
estimates range much higher.
The root cause of most of
these losses is that most U.S. homeowners are unaware that chimneys are an
integral part of a home heating system and that they require regular evaluation
and maintenance. In a great many European countries - including Sweden, Norway,
Denmark, Finland and Germany - chimney-fire damage statistics have been reduced
to negligible numbers because national coalitions of government, insurance
companies, fire and building officials, and chimney sweeps have developed tough
regulations mandating regularly scheduled chimney inspections and sweeps.
The citizens of those countries
understand the hazards of unmaintained chimneys, and their chimney sweeps are
regular members of their home safety team.
Most homeowners in the U.S. and Canada, however, seem to
have little working knowledge of chimney and venting systems. This situation is
complicated by the fact that faults, damage, and other problems are rarely
visible to the casual observer. In fact, people who will quickly replace a
faulty automobile exhaust system because of the hazard it presents will allow
their home's exhaust system - the chimney or vent - to go unchecked and
unmaintained for years! The threat of chimney fires and unsafe indoor air
quality conditions can be greatly reduced, perhaps even eliminated, if
homeowners only understood that chimneys are active home operation systems
which require regular maintenance.
THE CHIMNEY
SWEEPS ROLE
The primary job of a chimney service professional is
to aid in the prevention of fires related to fireplaces, woodstoves, gas, oil
and coal heating systems and the chimneys that serve them. Wood burning heating systems, in particular, require
careful monitoring and knowledgeable operation.
Chimney sweeps clean and
maintain these systems, evaluate their performance, prescribe changes to
improve their performance, and educate the consumer about their safe and
efficient operation. The basic task
of a chimney sweep is to sweep chimneys. Sweeping means removing the hazard of
accumulated and highly combustible creosote produced by burning wood and wood
products to prevent a chimney fire occurrence, among many other things.
In doing their primary job
of inspecting and sweeping chimneys, chimney professionals also function as
on-the-job fire prevention specialists. They are constantly on the lookout for
unsafe conditions that can cause home fires or threaten residents with
dangerous or unhealthy indoor air quality.
