Am I the only one who didn't know most house fires start in the chimney, not the firebox?

Willow Torres · 2026-10-19T23:35:03.930792+00:00

I was reading through the CSIA site last week and the number stopped me cold: something like a third of home heating fires trace back to the flue, mostly from creosote buildup and no annual sweep. That got me into a debate with a guy on my crew. He says the stat is old and folks run stoves hotter and cleaner now, so the risk is way lower than it used to be. I say it doesn't matter, because most of the calls I get are people who haven't had a sweep in 5 or 6 years and don't even know the number. He thinks pushing the stat on customers is scare talk. I think it's just the truth and it gets them to book. Where do you all land on using a big scary number like that in your pitch, does it help or does it make people tune you out?

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Am I the only one who didn't know most house fires start in the chimney, not the firebox? | Chimney Sweeps - The Community Guide