According to Central Emergency Services Fire Chief Roy Browning, at 8:42 a.m., CES was dispatched for a chimney fire in the Kasilof-Coho area.
“Fire crews from CES station number six Kasilof were the first on scene and reported a 2 story house that had fired smoke coming from the roof, and the first floor was charged with smoke, at which time they attacked the fire with the hose line and was able to slow the fire down, [and] get a ladder to the roof. Additional fire trucks arrived from the other CES stations and assisted in stopping the fire. Approximately 20 CES firefighters were on scene and Western Emergency responded with the water tanker from Ninilchik from Auto-Aid,” said Browning.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
According to Browning, something that’s common with roof and chimney fires, especially in the colder months, is an increase in wood burning, especially in wood stoves.
“There’s a buildup of creosote that causes the chimney stack fires. So CES would like to remind and encourage homeowners to inspect their wood stoves and if necessary use a chimney sweep,” said Browning.
Browning also advised those who may be using space heaters during these extremely cold temperatures to not leave them unattended.
“I think the other thing too we’re seeing is because of people having some frozen pipes, using space heaters or electric heaters. Please don’t abandon or, you know, leave the house, have someone on scene the whole time that you’re using those while you’re trying to thaw those pipes out [from a] safety standpoint, because we do get some fires with heat tape and some other things when nobody’s around to catch them early.”