On another subject - When lighting your fireplace for the first time FIRST CHECK TO SEE IF A CRITTER HAS TAKEN UP RESIDENCE in the flu. The other day I thought I'd light up the fireplace in preparations for the upcoming season. I had noticed a few wasps flying around the chimney during the day so I thought I'd clean out the pipe with a good burning fire and smoke the little guys out. Last year I didn't do this and in January, when I opened the damper, I had a good dozen or so angry wasps come at me. So to eliminate this problem I lit a good fire then heard something bigger than a few small insects scratching metal in what sounded like a desperate attempt to evacuate. Moments later I heard the tell tale sound of a chimney on fire. Rushing outside I witnessed a large four foot flame engulfing my chimney. Five minutes of scrambling with ladders and a water hose up on a two story roof and the fire was out. Post fire inspection showed that a squirrel had taken up residence in the cap of my chimney. All you PETA people rest assured no squirrel was injured - they got out in time - but their nest was a smoking bunch of embers.
Long story but a good lesson learned - check your chimney before lighting up.
3 comments:
Dang Joel,
way to act fast, lucky you were on top of it,
That's crazy Joel - I bet that was 5 minutes of chaos!
It was an exciting few moments. Thank goodness my budy was able to lend a hand.
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