Cost-effective chimney fire solution

By Jason Burkholder, Fire Inspector, Surry County Fire Mashal Office

One more extinguishing agent for chimney fires is salt.

The department I grew up in used jugs of salt. They bought old military containers that had lids that tighten down and had a capacity of about ½ to 1 gallon. They would fill jugs with regular salt and then dump them into the chimney from the top when on fire. They were very easy to carry and very cheap to use.

It was one of those small town volunteer tactics, but worked very well and kept costs down.

Submitted in response to: Tactical Approaches for Chimney Fires