A pellet stove was a source of alarm Wednesday, and firefighters with the Cortez Fire Protection District were quick to respond to the 1400 block of Navajo Street.
Fire Chief Jeff Vandevoorde said the owners of the home were lucky they had a concerned neighbor, who alerted authorities that smoke was coming out of the house at 1:43 p.m.
The fire, it turned out, was inside the pellet stove, and the stove was malfunctioning, Vandevoorde said.
“It is a good thing he (the neighbor) saw it because in a few more minutes it would have been a lot worse,” Vandevoorde said.
The house had filled with smoke. Firefighters were able to dump the ash, clean out the pellet stove and turn it off.
“It actually turned out better than it could have,” he said.
Vandevoorde said it is important to keep pellet stoves clean and operational and to have chimneys for traditional fire places inspected and cleaned annually.
So far this year, firefighters in Cortez have not responded to a chimney fire, but over the past two years, they have responded to 14 chimney fires resulting in around $10,000 in fire loss.
Across the nation over the past three years, 24,300 chimney fires were reported, which caused 20 deaths and 90 injuries and over $30 million in damage, Vandevoorde said.
Ash from stoves should also be dealt with safely: “Make sure you put ash in a noncombustible container,” he said.
Described as a tarlike substance or black flakes, creosote can buildup in a chimney. That accumulation of black grime can quickly result in a dangerous house fire.
Products of incomplete combustion, creosote, tars and other resins from wood burning stoves collect in the flue, and they are subject to ignite if allowed to build up. Chimney fires can quickly escalate into a raging inferno, accounting for more than a third of all residential fires in rural areas.
Officials also advocate that adequate smoke detectors be installed throughout the home, and to keep a standard ABC fire extinguisher next to all fireplaces and wood burning stoves.
Containing lower concentrations of creosote and resin, hardwoods, like the Gamble Oak, burn cleaner and leave less soot behind than traditional softwoods. Softwoods include evergreen or conifers, such as pine and juniper. Aspen is classified as a soft hardwood.