Charred wood flashes to fire easily!

[NM_Shooter]

My next door neighbor had his house catch on fire Sunday night.  I was just thinking about the recent wood stove shield thread and thought that I would post an anecdote about this event as well.

It seems that the builder installed a built-in grill that was only specified for a masonry install.  He installed it into a framed in structure.  My neighbor has an outdoor fireplace attached to a wall of his house, and the grill is attached to the other side of the fireplace.  He was cooking with the grill the other night, and started the grill to let it heat up.  His wife smelled smoke in the house, and when she went out to investigate, found the entire patio full of smoke.  The grill overheated the framing that was shared with the fireplace chase and caused it to catch on fire.  (This was a "framed" fireplace with an insert as opposed to a full masonry fireplace). 

"Luckily" this differed from a typical fire, as the chase structure was fairly well sealed, so the fire did not spread quickly.  This was a good thing, as it took our fire department 20 minutes to get to the site.  Scary, because we can see the FD building from the roof of my house.  It then took them 15 to 20 minutes to start to mitigate the fire.... they said that they had to disconnect the gas and electric first, then started taking pictures with a thermal camera.  By the time they actually started to vent the structure and get water on it, sparks were shooting out the top of the chase.  Inside of the house now has smoke damage, and they are having to live in a nearby hotel.

So... this ties in really well with the posting that showed that the combustible point of wood drops, the more that it becomes charred and exposed to heat.  Just because your wood stove does not set your wall on fire withing the first 10 uses does not mean that you are safe... you might be heading into danger with each subsequent fire you build.  My neighbor has used this grill for the past 4 years.

I also started to consider my own fire supression for my chimney chases (I have three).  I am considering putting in 4 small metal nozzles pointing straight down mounted in the very top of the chase.  I think I can plumb these with copper tubing down to my patio, and terminate them with a hose attachment.  If I ever get a chase fire started, I might be able to control it a little while the FD gets to my house.

Pretty scary!

-f-

[MountainDon]

Too bad about your neighbors house, Frank. Also too bad the FD took so long to get on site.

Good post though with an always timely and important message.

Built in fire suppression apparatus is a good idea I believe. Of course it could violate some code or another, but who cares.

[glenn kangiser]

Fire sprinkler heads are available at our local Do It Best hardware.  All you have to do is plumb them in and when it gets hot enough the glass breaks and starts water to put the fire out.  It flows until turned off and would not be a full system but could really help problem areas.

CPVC system
http://www.blazemaster.com/featuresBenefits/overview.asp

http://www.askthebuilder.com/034_Fire_Sprinklers_-_Small_but_Effective.shtml