Fire in Heights Saturday night
A chimney caught fire in a house on Chase Avenue in the Heights at about 8 p.m., Saturday. The Shelter Island Fire Department was on the scene within minutes. The quick response resulted in no injuries and no structural damage to the house.
Chief Anthony Reiter explained that most chimney fires are the result of creosote building up and not being cleaned out on a regular basis. Creosote is a kind of tar that builds up in a chimney from a fireplace burning wood, and can become flammable.
Chief Reiter said creosote at the Chase Avenue house had fallen and collected in the middle of the chimney; firefighters used a device to break it up and remove it.
“We took out five, 5-gallon buckets of creosote,” he said. It took a while to get the fire under control, the chief added, and firefighters had to work on a steeply-pitched roof.
All’s well that ends well, but Chief Reiter said the situation could have been much worse and urged those burning fuel in fireplaces to get chimneys cleaned on a regular basis.
