The Democrat-sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1906-1935, 1907-11-21
Examine Your Chimneys,

In Ohio the cost of fires from
defective chimneys last year was
$342, $40, the number in winter
being two or three each day.
The average date of the first
killing frost is November 10th. II
each householder should inspect
his chimneys before freezing
weather arrives, and remedy de.
fects in them, that amount would
be reduced at least $3.50, 900. Why
not protect your property and it's
occupants by devoting 10 minutes
time to this commonest of all fire
dangersp
Fires from defective chimneys,
usually being in the attic get q
good start in the dryest of wood
before the alarm is raised. Attics
being difficult of access to one with
IA water bucket the fire is likely to
get beyond control.
The settling of its foundation
may open crevice between the
bricks or stones, go that sparks
can escape. Sometimes a new
chimney in settling forms a crack
because one side of it is held by
floor tim bers.
A chimney built up from joistf
or brackets is always a source OF
danger because Of the liability oi
cracks from epringing of the tim.
bers. Cbimneys so built often
have as their base u plank whose
only protection from sparks and
heat is layer of mortar on it.
Many fires result from this prac.
tice.
Salmon tinted bricks disinte-
CRATE. Poor MOI tar crumbles out
leaving openings. Nails driven
into brick chimneys are likely to
come out leaving holes. A ioist
end she uld not rest in a chimney
wall Tile chimneys of all sorts
are unsafe because they are very
likely to crack off at the level of
the roof where cold air strikes
them. A hood should make no
offset to hold SCOT. The chimney
top should be inspected and SCOT
swept down and removed from be-
low.
Stovepipes must be cleaned.
Jarring the SCOT out is not enough !;
a scraper should be used inside it
to remove scales. Then it should
be inspected section by section for
rust holes which might permit
sparks to fly outward instead of
upward. There is a widespread
impression that the job of stove
pipe cleaning should be approached
with calmness, fortitude and reso-
luton. But for the fact that Job,
the great exemplar of patience,
was tent-dweller, one might
think he referred to stovepipe
cleaning when he said, "Yet man
is born unto trouble as the sparks
fly upward" See that the pipe
when up is spt 'k-t:ght through
out and is not pushed into the fue
so as to choke it.
A number of persons have been
suifocated by fumes from burning
gas as a result of the small pipes
from gas heaters becoming choked
by falling mortar. Natural gas,
like other fuels, is changed in
burning to steam and carbon
monoxid and dioXid gases which
are poisonous to animal life. But
in the burning of coal and wood
email particles of carbon escape
and form eoot which protects the
mortar from the action of the
carbopic gases. The use of natur-
al gas in the state has reduced the
numb of flue fires ~ per cent,
because gas smoke is sparkless.
An elbow in stovepipe lessons
the liability Of particles of kind
ling or fuel being drawn from the
chimney top and alighting still
on the shingles. If such sparks
are given elbow room they are
likely to bump in making the turn
and fall back harmless. While a
fire is burning the airin chimney
travels up at the rate of three to
six feet second. Unplugged and
stovepipe holes caused
six fires in Ohio during 1906.
A stovepipe should not pass
where it cannot be seen as though