Without bad luck we'd have no luck at all

If being laid up with pneumonia was not bad enough we got to call out our local fire department tonight. After dinner we had settled in to a relaxing time in front of the TV and some computer time. Joanne had built a nice fire in our fireplace/insert. In a little while she heard popping from outside and on investigation we found our chimney on fire. Flames were pretty much roaring out the top and a thick black smoke was falling over the neighborhood. After observing it a while I decided I'd better call the fire guys. I closed the dampers on the stove insert immediately. This did snuff out the fire in the box and did not continue to feed the roaring fire in the chimney.

The benefit of living in a small town, even though we are almost completely surrounded by Oklahoma City, is the reaction time of the local officials. By the time I got out in the front yard our local police were there, all three cars that were on duty. Right behind them was the Warr Acres Fire Department and they were soon joined by the Bethany Fire Department, our adjacent town.

The fireman did a quick job of putting out the fire and checked out the house, including the attic, to insure it had not spread. They then spent the next couple of hours cooling down the chimney to insure it would not flare back up. Normally in a situation like this they would pull the chimney down or, at minimum, pull most of the outside brick off. These guys did a great job of keeping the damage down and only removed some of the mortar between the bricks so they could spray water inside. After they left it was hard to tell they had even been here. We did get a little water in the living room, that came in under the stove, that got on the carpet. It should not be a major problem to clean up.

Our chimney opening is very large. Jo's dad, who was a retired brick mason, said it was the largest flue he had ever seen. Due to this it was almost impossible to clean with normal chimney cleaning tools. Due to that it has not had a good cleaning since we have lived her, over 19 years. Since we use this fireplace/insert to augment the heat throughout the winter months there has been a lot of wood burned in it over the years. The creosote buildup finally got to the point of causing the fire. We'll now have to get out a professional chimney cleaner to take care of it. We do have a local company called Mary Poppins Chimney Sweeps we can call.

All seems to be well now but the two hours I found myself standing out in the cold, night air was not good for my lungs. We'll have to see if this causes any setbacks in my recuperation.