Fireplace fire damages house in south Wichita

Thursday night’s harsh cold prompted a family in south Wichita to use their fireplace for the first time this season.

But they hadn’t had the chimney cleaned in quite a while, Fire Marshal Brad Crisp said, and that led to a fire in the attic shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday at 1256 S. Kansas. The house, which was built in 1940, is near Lincoln and Hydraulic.

The fire caused an estimated $12,000 to the house and its contents — primarily in the attic space, Crisp said.

When you burn wood, he said, it develops soot and deposits creosote on the pipes inside a chimney.

“A little bit of creosote isn’t a problem,” Crisp said.

But if allowed to accumulate over the years, it will catch fire and cause the pipe to expand and create openings at joints.

“Fire leaks out into the wood framing in the house,” Crisp said. “You end up burning part of your roof off.”

Such fires are “totally preventable” by doing maintenance, he said. People with fireplaces can hire chimney sweeps to clean them or get do-it-yourself kits at hardware stores.

There was a working smoke detector that alerted the two adults and two children in the house to the fire and they escaped unharmed, he said.