Winter Chill Brings Danger

The arrival of cold weather is the start of house fire season – as the temperature drops people begin using furnaces, wood stoves, fireplaces and other, sometimes questionable, heating systems that have sat dormant for a year.

A Glade Spring, Va., couple lost their home this week, likely the result of a wood stove fire. The family had built an addition to their single-wide trailer to accommodate the wood stove after being unable to afford repairs to their furnace and unable to get other heating assistance from local agencies.

Now a fire has left them without a home. It’s a common scenario as the weather turns colder – house fires increase as people begin using heating systems that haven’t been used in a year or may need inspecting or cleaning. Local fire departments have been busy responding to calls.

“We’ve been fairly active for the past three weeks,” Capt. Scott Jerrell of the Duffield, Va., Volunteer Fire Department told the Herald Courier.

Kenneth Neeley, of Duffield, lost his home this week. He was on a couch reading his Bible when he heard something pop. He opened a door and “the smoke about knocked me down,” he said. The cause of the fire is still unknown, but Neeley believes the chimney of his wood-burning stove might have broken.

Wood-burning stoves are a common culprit.

“We start seeing a lot of problems with the flues either starting to burst to where they’ve been unexamined or see buildup,” Jerrell told the Herald Courier.

Firefighters suggest keeping possessions away from heat sources and to have chimneys and wood-burning stoves cleaned and inspected each year. Space heaters should be turned off when leaving a room.

Take precautions when first using a heating system, especially when it hasn’t been used for nearly a year. Failure to have the system cleaned or inspected or to use it properly can mean the loss of your home, or your life.