Berwyn Police Blotter
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Thick black smoke sign of problem
My 9, 2008, 1:22 AM
An officer saw thick black smoke coming from the chimney of a house in the 1300 block of East. When police and fire fighters arrived, the resident—a 43-year-old woman who spoke very little English—indicated to them that all was well. But police attempting to check the furnace encountered extreme heat throughout the basement. The source was a wood-burning stove, installed very close to a basement wall—so close, in fact, that the paint was peeling off the wall. Firemen had to open the wall to ensure there was no fire inside it, and told police and the resident that if the stove had been permitted to burn another 30 minutes, the wall would have begun to burn. The daughter of the residents, translating for the woman, said her father had installed the stove three years earlier. She said they use the stove for heat because gas is expensive. Unfortunately, the fuel they were burning consisted of scraps of laminated wood.*
The residents were advised against using the stove until it could be properly installed.
* “NEVER burn household wastes such as plastics, color newsprint, diapers, magazines, packaging materials, coated or laminated papers, or painted or treated wood in residential stoves or fireplaces. When burned, these products produce smoke, odors, and release toxic fumes, and the remaining ash may be hazardous. Only dry, untreated wood is acceptable to burn.”
http://www.des.state.nh.us/factsheets/ard/ard-36.htm
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