Three Chimneys and Three Rain Barrels, 1920

I would like to know what ails our old chimneys. Other people’s chimneys are not forever catching fire. So wrote my grandmother in a letter to her daughter Medora on November 22, 1914. The chimney of the fireplace burned out this morning. The roar was enough to scare anyone. Papa was at South Bend so the neighbors came to my assistance.

She sounded so matter-of-fact about it – like it was a usual occurrence. And maybe it was. But it’s hard to believe that, at a time when heating the house depended upon fires in woodstoves and fireplaces, they didn’t know exactly what ailed their chimneys. Surely they knew that some woods produce more creosote than others? And surely they cleaned out their chimneys periodically? But perhaps not…

Sootbuster At Work

My mother remembered several bad chimney fires that occurred during her childhood. Even sixty years later when she and my father had retired here they spoke of the chimney “burning out” now and then. But I don’t remember them ever speaking of the best type of firewood to use or of periodically hiring a chimney sweep.

I thought about all that last week when Steve Hermanns was up on our roof with his big wire brushes. We call him every few years, depending on how much use we’ve made of our fireplaces. I think it had been several years since he was here last but he reported that the chimneys were in good shape – inside, that is. Outside, they need a little help in the form of re-plastering so we have a call into the mason.

With all due respect to my forebears, it seems a no-brainer to keep the chimneys in good working order. I wish all fire-prevention could be as easily planned and carried out. It doesn’t seem like there should be a gray area when it comes to matters of fire safety. Along those lines, we are considering attending the “Not a Ban, A Better Plan” meeting at the Ocean Park Fire Hall tonight, but the very name of the event seems off-putting. Why is it again that we cannot consider a total ban on fireworks at the beach?