Please put your fireplace coals outside!!

[bettymae1121]

I grew up with working wood burning fireplace and we NEVER removed hot embers/coals. The fire would be completely out for a few days (we only used it once or twice a month) and then Dad would clean out the ashes so it would be ready to go the next time we wanted a fire. Why on earth would anyone remove embers/coals before they went out?

And I'm mega paranoid about smoke alarms. We're remodeling our house and once we get closer to being finished I want to invest in the kind that are hardwired in, and if one detector goes off they all do (so if a fire starts in the basement, not only does the basement detector go off but so do the alarms on the 1st and 2nd floors). Meanwhile we do have working detectors on all floors and I test them every few months (well, the kitchen one gets a work out once a week.... ).

 

[Keli]

We used to heat with coal when I was a kid, burned it in the fireplaces (my parents home has four fireplaces! All use the same chimney though) and a wood burning stove.
We definitely had to take out ashes/coals every day or two or our fire would go out. Doesn't matter for folks that have a fireplace for decoration but if you use it for heat you can't let your fire go out. But you have a designated place to dump the ashes and coals that is safe. We had an old 55 gallon drum that they went into for a few days at least. When they were definitely cold then dad would move them for disposal.

 

[Heidict]

Thanks for posting all this info Fireman. I have an appointment and will miss the news conference, so good to know I can come here and see what was said.


We grew up with a wood burning stove that we used everyday, all the time. It's not unusual to have to remove the ash at the bottom. We always put them into a metal bucket and then placed them outside, on pavement or another non flammable area.

This story is just so heartbreaking. I can't imagine the guilt and pain that the mother must be feeling and will continue to go through for the rest of her life. It's just unimaginable. So mad that they didn't have smoke detectors in that house. WHY?????

 

[goofy4tink]

We heat with a wood stove and you do need to clean out ashes/coals sometimes. Mainly ashes, but if you have a large amount and need to clean it out so it can burn properly, sometimes you do need to take out hot coals.

Normally I dump them in the snow over our garden area, but this year we have no snow so it's been a little trickier. Heating with wood makes me nervous but it is SO much cheaper than the alternatives that I live with it and am just very careful. We lost our home when I was growing up from a chimney fire, so I have a healthy dose of respect/fear of fire.

My question on this fire, why was the contractor staying at the house? Why did he and the mother get out but no one else? Not really suggesting anything fishy, just sounds odd to me. My heart goes out to the dad of those kids...

I heard on the news today that the officials think that while the dying embers had been placed outside, the wind blew some back at the house.
The contractor, to the best of my knowledge, was the mom's boyfriend. As to why they were able to get out, perhaps their bedroom had easier exit capability?? While the other bedrooms were not as easily escaped???
I know that the age of the house would make it about the same as my old house. Man, the construction in that time period made houses virtual chimney'
s!!! Let some flame get into a wall and you're done.

I have a very hard time believing that a mother would put her children and parents in harms way, intentionally. I wouldn't want to be that mother..not for all the tea in China. I told my dh when we first heard this story that I would not be able to live with myself after that...just no way.

 

[fireman17]

The fire marshal has determined that hot embers were placed in a bag and placed in a first floor mudroom by the contractor who was living within the home. The fire started in the room and consumed the entire first floor in fire spreading up two vertical openings(the stairways) trapping the victims on the second floor. The hardwired alarm system was not hooked up and that is what caused the quick undetected spread of the fire.
According to the news the home should not have been occupied due to the type of renovations that were taking place within the home (unsure of why) but it is too late to speculate on that matter. The fire department arrived under six minutes after the first 911 call and there were multiple calls made and the first arriving engine crew again attempted a valiant rescue of those trapped after being informed by the mother of the location of the children on the second floor but were driven out of the building by a wall of fire.
I'm sure more will be released as days go by but this fire has captured national attention..

 

[herdtoDisney]

Living in CT (but not near the fire) this was the first thing up on my computer Sunday How so incredibly sad!

Those old houses, when they go up they go up bad My understanding is that it was under renovation-usually folks add fire safety features during that time but I guess it wasn't finished yet. The way those old houses are framed, is not usually ideal for fire stopping.

I heard that the late grandfather had often volunteered to teach fire safety to schoolchildren.

When we had a woodstove, we only cleaned it after letting it get completely cold-and we put the ash in a covered ash can outside. It was windy Saturday night/ Sun early.

I feel so bad for the parents, and the first responders too-I read that they were grieving also.

I just read Fireman's update-oh my my my that contractor is so horribly insanely stupid! How can anyone be so careless??? I can hardly believe it!

 

[Imzadi]

The contractor, to the best of my knowledge, was the mom's boyfriend. As to why they were able to get out, perhaps their bedroom had easier exit capability?? While the other bedrooms were not as easily escaped???

The news said that two of the little girls possibly panicked and ran in either direction away from the contractor/boyfriend. One ran further upstairs to the third floor, and the other ran the other way on the second floor from where they were.

The third daughter appears to have been in the process of being helped out a window by the grandfather. He set up a bunch of books for her to climb on, in front of the window. He climbed out first, turned to reach in for her. But, the carbon monoxide got to him and he collapsed before getting her out. They died on either side of the window.


70 of the Stamford firemen all need emotional counseling now because of this incident. They have been able to arrive in 6 minutes, but when the first neighbor called it in to 911, the house was already engulfed in flames.

 

[lemondog]

This news story has affected me profoundly. I also have a 10yo daughter and 7yo twin daughters. They are my entire life. I cannot even begin to fathom losing them all at once, along with my parents. I have cried many tears for this woman. May God be with her during this time.

 

[PanamaMike]

Few details as yet, but another fire tragedy

http://www.news.com.au/national/che...-sage-and-willow/story-e6frfkvr-1226230880085

 

[cornflake]

I grew up with working wood burning fireplace and we NEVER removed hot embers/coals. The fire would be completely out for a few days (we only used it once or twice a month) and then Dad would clean out the ashes so it would be ready to go the next time we wanted a fire. Why on earth would anyone remove embers/coals before they went out?

If you use it for heat, you don't let the fire go out and the ashes build up.

However - you should keep, as others have noted, a metal can with a tight-fitting lid (like a traditional, Oscar the Grouch style garbage can, they make them small) right there as part of your woodstove or fireplace equipment.

When the ashes build up, place inside the can, close the lid and keep the can someplace safe - like on a brick or tile surface a safe distance from flammable materials, or in the snow or in the dirt away from twigs or anything that can ignite, for a couple of days, until you're sure the ashes and such have completely gone cold. Then you can dispose of them, return the can and start again.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

According to the news the home should not have been occupied due to the type of renovations that were taking place within the home (unsure of why) but it is too late to speculate on that matter.

Not sure if this is the reason but in my town you can't get a certificate of occupancy if you don't have functioning smoke alarms/fire systems. Of course they can't force people to replace batteries but I guess they are trying to help.
We just fully gutted our first floor (flooding issues) and my DH wouldn't let us move back in until new smoke/CO detectors were purchased and installed.

 

[SaraJayne]

I figured the mother was somehow involved with the contractor, when I read the contractor lived in the house and her husband lived in the city. I'm not surprised to see that confirmed.

What a horrible, horrible tragedy. That mother will live with guilt the rest of her life.

Coals should always be left in the fireplace to cool down, then removed to a safe place outside (on the garden, burn barrel, ect).

 

[tvguy]

Not only should you change the batteries but your smoke detectors should be replace, I think it's every 5 years? I beileve there is expiration dates if you look on them.

Smoke detectors should be replaced every 10 years, they will have a manufacture date printed on them. One of the Christmas gifts I bought my mom was a new smoke detector. She didn't understand why until I took down the old one and showed her that it said replace every 10 years, and a manufacture date of 1999.
I can't tell you how many fire safety stories I have written in the last 31 years, and I did not know this about smoke detectors until this year.
And here in California we have to have a carbon monoxide detector too in most cases....even if you have no natural gas or propane appliances. If you have a fireplace, or an attached garage, you are required to have a carbon monoxide detector.

And one more thing about smoke detectors, you can't just throw the old one in the trash. The contain radioactive material and must be treated as hazardous material. Here that just means I have to drive them to the trash substation and drop them off, no charge for this, they just don't want them in the landfill.

 

[bumbershoot]

However - you should keep, as others have noted, a metal can with a tight-fitting lid (like a traditional, Oscar the Grouch style garbage can, they make them small) right there as part of your woodstove or fireplace equipment.

Yes indeed. We had a wood burning stove (for those cold nights in San Jose CA, LOL) and had one of those solid metal cans that lived right next to it. We lived in a *tiny* house and a fire would have ripped through it in moments, so we had to be VERY careful.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

This fire occurred early Christmas and was a terrible loss of life. I can not imagine what the survivors are going through let alone my brother firefighters in the Stamford FD. The first arriving firefighters attempted a valiant rescue from a well involved fire and were driven back by it so much the Captain had to be pulled out from a window with heavy fire behind him and is lucky to be alive.
The preliminary cause may be fireplace coal placed in a bucket and put in the foyer but it really doesn't say if the foyer was inside the home or not.
I just want to pass on if you do own a fireplace and I have one as well please place your coals outside away from your house.
Here is the article..
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/con...eft-late-night-gift-wrapping-article-1.997016

Hopefully, people will learn from other's tragic mistakes. That's the "good" thing that comes out of this horrific events.

I feel for the firefighters as well as the family. Must be so devastating.

 

[SandrA9810]

Just days before there was a nightline episode of how fast new homes go up. As quickly as 3 minutes because synthetic materials burn so much faster than natural materials. A home built in the 70-80's with furniture made of real wood, real cotton, and so forth can take as long as 10 minutes or more to move into a full blown out fire. The other "fake" house was in a full blown blaze with nothing remaining. One more reason to go with quality furniture/products, and not synthetic materials so commonly used today.

From what I heard, the fire was going for quite a bit before any one woke up to it. By that point, it was just too late. they reported the girls were found just feet from the grandfather, that was trying to rescue them.