After a chimney fire: what to do next

During a chimney fire

A fast-burning chimney fire is hard to miss: loud cracking and popping, a lot of dense smoke and an intense, hot smell. People often say it sounds like a freight train or a low-flying airplane.

If you hear or see that, get everyone out of the house and call 911 from outside. Don't go up on the roof, and don't wait to see whether it burns itself out.

Most chimney fires go unnoticed

Most chimney fires are slow and quiet. A slow-burning fire doesn't have the air or fuel to roar, but it still gets hot enough to damage the chimney. Inside a masonry chimney the temperature can reach around 2,000°F.

So plenty of people find out they had a chimney fire months later, when a sweep or an inspection turns up the evidence.

Signs a chimney fire has happened

These are the signs we look for:

• Creosote that looks puffy or honeycombed, where it used to be a flat coating
• A warped damper or other warped metal parts
• Cracked or collapsed flue tiles
• A rain cap that's discolored or bent out of shape
• Flakes and chunks of creosote on the roof or the ground below the chimney
• Roofing damaged by hot creosote
• Cracks in the outside of the chimney, or smoke coming through the mortar joints

Some of these you can see from the yard. Most of the ones inside the flue need a camera to find.

Don't use it until it's swept and checked

After a chimney fire, don't light the fireplace again until the chimney has been swept and checked. The heat can crack flue tiles, open up mortar joints and fatigue metal parts, and that damage often can't be seen from the fireplace or the roof.

The next fire goes up the same flue. If the lining is cracked, heat and gases can reach the brick and the wood framing around it.

Why the inspection is a Level 2

The inspection levels come from NFPA 211, the national standard for chimneys and fireplaces. It calls for a Level 2 after an operating malfunction or an outside event that's likely to have damaged the chimney, and a chimney fire is that kind of event.

We sweep the chimney first, then run a camera through the flue to look for cracked flue tiles and failed mortar joints, and check the metal parts for separation, warping and buckling. A Level 2 chimney inspection includes that camera run, plus the parts of the chimney in the attic and basement. There's more on what each level covers in Level 1, 2 or 3 chimney inspection.

Photos for your insurance claim

Ask for the damaged parts of the chimney, and any creosote found, to be photographed before the chimney is swept. Once it's swept, the creosote that shows a fire happened is gone.

Ask for copies of the inspection photos and a written repair estimate to send to your insurance adjuster. Chimney fire damage is often covered by homeowners insurance, but your own policy decides that, so call your insurer early.

Take your own photos too, before anything gets cleaned up: the roof around the chimney if you can see it from the ground, anything on the ground below, and the fireplace.

What the repair can look like

The repair depends on the damage. It can be a few replacement flue tiles, a new liner, or rebuilding the chimney. You'll see the camera footage before anyone quotes you a repair.

Creosote built up in the flue is what burns in a chimney fire. Once the chimney is repaired, a yearly sweep keeps that buildup down. How often to clean a chimney covers the schedule.