Chimney Fires - Tools?

[tyler101]

Last night we had a chimney fire and as we were trying bust through the plug in the chimney to cool it off we found that our 16' pike pole just wasnt long enough. The end of the pole was right at the top of the chimney. If the plug would have busted through suddenly the whole pike pole would have went with it. Not a good thing to do with a bunch of firefighters watching you from below. I was just wondering if anyone had any special tools for chimney fire. Home inventions or anything??

[rcw5303]

We use a 50ft chain with a torpedo shape 40lb weight at one end and a collection of 1ft long chains attached to the other end.

Let the weighted end down first, till you hit the blockage. Once you have a hole though, use the chain end to open it up.

[Dalmatian90]

TORPEDOS AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!

http://www.mortlakefire.org/Mortlake/Photos/bensontorpedo.jpg

One half truck axle, ground to point, complete with boat-winch recovery system.

Used with great care (and very, very rarely) -- pretty much it's going down, you're probably gonna need a mason to check out the chimney before using it again. But it does break up the creosote so it can be cleaned out and overhaul completed.

[shammrock54]

We use 50' of chain w/a large link @ the end that has about two dozen 6" pieces off of it. Also an assortment of large truck mirrors mounted on sticks, homemade ansul powder bombs (in ziplock bags), and a PW can w/a quick disconnect assortment of elbows and lengths that go on the end(made by one of our members. it works well on ledges or areas were its tough to get at). Thats about it besides two buckets and small shovels.

[FFMike9]

We carry & use about the same stuff as Shammrock54 carries plus a round and a rectangular expanding chimney cleaners. On the end of our chain we have a large round metal weight ( it doesn't usually get stuck.
Also as for dropping a pike pole down the chimney, get one with a D-handle on it, put your chain on it and away you go. We've used that in the past also.

Also a 2 1/2 gal. extinguisher comes in handy, not too much water to crack any flues but enough to make steam for extinguishment.

Mike

[CaptainGonzo]

Of course, there is always the one chimney fire that despite your best efforts gets out of hand and extends to the structure. In that case, to paraphrase Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, Civil War hero it's....

Damn the torpedoes! Full streams ahead!!!

[LtStick]

We have several tools to choose from. We usually use a window wheight atached to a cable. We also have three expandable sweeps and chimney bombs consisting of dry chemical in baggies and we have chimney flares but, I've never used them so I don't know how well they work. Most of the time we just use the window wheight on the cable.

[chief4102]

tyler101:

A number of good working solutions to chimney fire problems have been presented.

We have been using a variation of an ice spud for a number of years now. It is an ice spud blade mounted on 1" pipe that we add 5' sections to in order to get long enough to reach the plug. The last section, to be added, has a cable attached to it in case the spud slips through someone's hands. We then can punch a hole in the obstruction and open the chimney up. We also use the ABC powder in baggies that LtStick mentioned. The baggies seem to work better than the flares for us.

And, as Dal90 said, remind the occupants to have the chimney checked for damage no matter which method you use to get the problem resolved.

[FireSar]

Here's one that we use in our area. And it is extremely effective. Take and close the structure up except for one door. Open the damper on the fireplace. Place a PPV fan in the door way to pressurize the house. Take a dry chemical extinguisher and shoot 4-5 good bursts up into the top of the fire box. The pressurized air in the house will pull the dry chemical agent through the flu and extinguish all fire. Have someone outside monitoring for dry chemical shooting out of the top of the chimney (that way you know it worked, if not than there is a plug or a hole into the attic). We also send someone into the attic to check the chimney. This technique keeps us off the roof on icy nights.

[mxz670]

We use the same as most people

about 50ft of chain, with a chimney weight on one end and the chimney brush on the other, if there is a full blockage and it is tough, we just let the weight freefall from the top. for suppression we also use sno-cones (plastic bag filled with dry chem)

[macfiredaddy]

THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO PUT OUT A CHIMNEY FIRE WITH VERY LITTLE COST. I HAVE BEEN A FIREFIGHTER FOR 17 YEARS AND A CHIMNEY SWEEP FOR 7 YRS. 2 GOOD WAYS ARE TO PUT ICE ON THE HOT LOGS CAUSING STEAM TO GO UP THE CHIMNEY OR USE A WET RAG. BOTH WILL CAUSE NO DAMAGE TO THE CHIMNEY ITSELF, ANOTHER WAY IS TO USE A WATER EXTINGISHER AND SQUIRT VERY SHORT BURSTS OF WATER DOWN THE CHIMNEY. YOUR MAIN GOAL IS TO PUT OUT THE FIRE AND CAUSE NO DAMAGE TO THE CHIMNEY. USING ALOT OF WATER WILL CRACK THE MORTER AND CAUSE THE FIRE TO SPREAD INTO THE STRUCTURE. A CHAIN CAN ALSO CAUSE UNKNOWN DAMAGE MY CRACKING THE BRICKS CAUSING DAMAGE AT A LATER TIME..