With cooler weather around the corner and the nights beginning to draw in, many people will soon be firing up their fireplaces and wood-burning stoves.
Although open fires and wood burners undeniably add heat and ambience to a home, it’s important to remember that over 6,000 chimney fires occur in England each year.
In the last year, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue attended 146 fires that started in a chimney – and many of these could have been prevented if precautions had been taken.
Chimney fires happen when soot or creosote deposits in the chimney catch light due to high temperatures or flames from a very hot fire extending into the outlet.
All chimney fires are extremely dangerous as internal flue temperatures can reach 1,100 degrees Celsius and heat radiated through chimney walls can cause a devastating house fire – especially in properties with thatched or wooden roofs.
Flames or sparks can leap from the chimney top or through cracks in the flue and ignite the roof or other parts of the house.
The bricks of the chimney can become hot enough to combust thatch, wooden beams – even adjoining houses or nearby trees.
Fire safety tips
Therefore, it’s important to remember a few basic fire safety tips to make sure you’re not at risk.
First of all, always make sure you have a working smoke alarm fitted to each floor of your house. They help save lives by giving you earlier warning of a fire and extra seconds to get out. Make sure, too, that you have a fire escape plan.
Chimney fires most commonly result from four basic causes – infrequent sweeping and cleaning, burning of unseasoned wood, improper appliance sizing, or overnight burning or smouldering of wood for long periods in wood burners.
So to reduce the risk of a fire, make sure your chimney is swept regularly by a professional, qualified chimney sweep such as those certified by the National Association of Chimney Sweeps.
Only burn seasoned wood purchased from reputable suppliers and make sure your wood burner isn’t too large for your room, always following manufacturer’s instructions for fuel loading and air flow.
Use a fire guard to protect against flying sparks from hot embers, and make sure the fire is completely out before you go to bed.
Also, remember that if you are in a rented property, your landlord has a duty of care towards you as a tenant to repair and maintain heaters and fuel burners.
Make sure your family can safely enjoy a cosy fire – take the proper precautions before the cold weather sets in.
Would you like more advice or a free Home Fire Safety Check? Please email the Community Fire Safety department or call 01522 582222.
Debbie Robinson is the Deputy Community Fire Safety Manager at Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue. She shares a few basic fire safety tips to prevent chimney fires.
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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