When chilly fall temperatures started creeping in earlier this month, James McGuinness, Pottsville, grabbed some matches, old newspapers and wood kindling.
"We've been burning wood in this house for so long. I get some of my wood from the forest and when you put a fresh piece of wood on, you'll see smoke," McGuinness, 47, said Monday night.
Even though he's been using the wood burner at his home at 427 E. Norwegian St. for more than 20 years, he said smoke from the chimney recently triggered someone's 911 reflex, twice.
"We had two calls on the 400 block of East Norwegian Street recently, one at 4:07 p.m. Oct. 3 and one was at 6:16 p.m. Oct. 4. It was smoke coming from a chimney. It was banking down. Somebody called it in. They thought it was a fire. We get that a lot. But what the homeowner was doing was perfectly legal but we'd rather people call when they see smoke instead of wait until it's too late," city fire Chief Todd March said Oct. 17.
"Maybe the caller was someone new in town," McGuinness said.
It's the season when homeowners with wood burners are going to light them up.
"With wood-burning stoves or any furnace actually, if you start them up for the season, you're going to get some smoke," March said.
McGuinness said he has both a wood stove and an oil burner to keep his house warm.
March said traditionally, city firefighters respond to reports of problems with heating systems like these and offered some advice to owners of wood burners.
"People with wood-burning stoves with appliances, even coal stoves and stokers, they need to get their chimneys checked and cleaned," March said.
Residue that builds up inside chimneys can spark a blaze, he said.
"The by-products of wood burning and smoke is called creosote," March said.
"Creosote is a combustible deposit that originates from condensed wood smoke. It also includes tar, vapors and other organic compounds. It's a natural by-product of burning wood," according to chimney-liner-central.com
"As it goes up the chimney. It's hot. As it starts to cool off, it sticks to the sides and just builds up on the sides of the chimney. So if you would have some kind of spark go up there and you have a real good buildup of creosote, it could start a fire. It could also break off and start blocking the chimney, too," March said.
McGuinness said he cleans his chimney once a year.
"I have a big, long wire brush. You don't want creosote in your chimney pipe because that's flammable," McGuinness said.
March also encouraged homeowners with heaters like these to install carbon-monoxide detectors.
"It's not a rule but it's highly recommended," March said.
People who put in new wood-burning or oil-burning units must have them inspected, March said.