I finally had a chimney fire scare last Tuesday that shook me up

I was out in the suburbs of Denver finishing up a routine cleaning on a house built in the 70s. The homeowner mentioned they'd been burning unseasoned pine all winter, so I figured I'd find some creosote. But when I ran my brush up, I hit a massive plug of glazed creosote that was probably an inch thick near the top of the flue. I spent an extra 45 minutes with my rotary tool and some chemical cleaner to break it all down before I could even get a proper sweep done. The homeowner watched me the whole time and kept saying "I thought a hot fire would burn that stuff away." Has anyone else dealt with a customer who just doesn't get how dangerous glazed creosote is?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendyprice25d ago

@jordanblack Exactly. That stuff's liquid fire waiting to happen.

jordanblack25d ago

Holy crap, inch thick glazed creosote? That's not even a "massive plug" that's a straight up disaster waiting to happen. Did the homeowner actually watch you spend all that extra time and still say "hot fire" like it would fix it? I'm sitting here shaking my head because that's the kind of thinking that gets people's houses burned down. Glazed creosote is like tar, it's not just gonna burn off with a hot fire, it'll just feed the chimney fire and make it worse.

the_tessa25d ago

Wait, did the homeowner actually stand there and watch you scrape all that mess out and still say that? That's crazy to me. Like, you put in the work, you showed them the evidence, and they still think a hot fire is the magic fix. People don't realize glazed creosote isn't just leftover soot, it's basically a solid fuel that can catch and burn like crazy. I feel for you, man. That's the kind of stubbornness that keeps chimney sweeps busy, but it's also the kind that leads to some real bad calls on 911 later.