Chimney fire doesn’t care if you are sleeping or awake. It destroys the chimney and then goes after your home. In this case the family had to stay up all night to monitor the fire, because even though the fire department came three times, the fire wouldn’t go all the way out.
Chimney fire spreads into walls, flares up repeatedly
Mark Melvin/CBS Atlanta- A wood fireplace fire spread through the walls of this northwest Atlanta home.ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -A fire that originated in a chimney in a northwest Atlanta home flared up more than once Monday morning.
Firefighters first arrived at the home on Randall Mill Road at approximately 11:30 p.m. Sunday. They returned to the home at around 3 a.m. at the homeowner’s request and again just before 6 a.m.
The fire began as…..Read More Here at the CBS Atlanta News site. They do a great job reporting.
This shows you several things about your chimney and chimney fires. You need to always stay home when you have a fire going. You should stay generally close to the fireplace so that if a chimney fire starts you will be able to deal with it.
Secondly, you should never go to bed while the fire is active. Chimney fires can happen without you knowing and then smolder in the walls, like in this case.
Third, have the chimney inspected regularly. If you only have one fire a year, then you don’t need to do it annually. But if you use it once or twice a week during the Winter, then yearly inspection is a must.