Found a scary number in a fire report from my town

I was looking at our local fire department's yearly report online. They said 30% of the house fires they put out last year started in the chimney. That's way more than I thought. It was in the section about preventable causes. Makes me double check every flue liner I see now. Do you guys bring up stats like this when you talk to customers?

2 comments

2 Comments

ninasanchez5d ago

Wow, that's a wild stat (and honestly a bit scary). I actually think that number usually includes all "heating equipment" fires, not just chimneys. Still a good reminder to get things checked though.

river_bailey25d ago

But have you looked at the actual NFPA report breakdown? The chimney and fireplace category is its own separate line item, and it's consistently near the top for home heating fire causes. The "heating equipment" total is bigger because it groups everything together, but that doesn't make the chimney number less real. My neighbor's place had a close call last winter from a cracked flue liner they didn't know about. The stats might seem broad until it's your house on the list.