Does Homeowners Insurance Cover a Chimney Fire?

How insurers tend to view a chimney fire

Fire is one of the core perils most homeowners policies are built around, and a chimney fire happens at a specific moment, which puts it in a different category from slow deterioration. That is the starting point, not the conclusion. Policies differ in how they treat the chimney itself, the liner, the contents of the house and smoke damage, and some contain language that affects losses linked to lack of maintenance.

Because creosote buildup is the usual fuel for a chimney fire, an adjuster may ask questions about upkeep that would not come up after, say, a lightning strike. Read your own policy's fire, smoke and exclusion sections, and ask your agent directly how a chimney fire would be handled.

During the fire and right after it

A loud roar like a train or a jet in the chimney, flames or dense sparks shooting from the top, a stovepipe glowing or shaking, or a strong hot smell are signs of a chimney fire. Get everyone out, then call 911 from outside. If the stove door or the fireplace glass doors are within easy reach on your way out, shut them; do not go back for them.

Once the fire department says the house is safe, leave the fireplace or stove cold. Do not light a test fire to see whether everything still works. Even a short chimney fire can crack flue tiles or separate a liner, and the next fire could reach the house through those gaps.

What a chimney fire does inside the flue

Burning creosote can heat the inside of a flue far beyond what normal fires produce, and it does so in minutes. Clay tile heats on its inner face while the outer face stays cool, and that difference cracks it, often in long vertical lines. Mortar joints between tiles can blow out. Stainless liners can warp, buckle or discolor, and caps and dampers can distort.

Heat that escapes through cracks reaches the brick and anything built against it. In older houses, joists, studs and the wood lath behind plaster often sit close to the outside of the chimney, and scorching there is not visible from the room. Some chimney fires are slow and quiet, and the household learns of them only when a sweep finds the evidence months later.

Why the inspection comes first

NFPA 211 lists a chimney fire, or anything else that could have harmed the chimney, as a reason for inspection. The inspection covers the flue from bottom to top, the smoke chamber, the damper, the cap and crown, and accessible areas next to the chimney such as the attic and the walls of adjoining rooms. On a stove or insert, the connector pipe and liner joints are checked as well.

Signs a technician looks for include:

• Cracked, shifted or missing clay flue tiles
• Warped, buckled or discolored metal liner, cap or damper
• Puffy, honeycombed creosote that has expanded from burning
• Flakes of burnt creosote on the roof, in the gutters or on the ground
• New cracks in the masonry outside, or a crown that has split
• Scorched wood, roofing or insulation near the chimney

What insurers may ask

Expect questions about what happened and when, when the chimney was last inspected and cleaned, who did that work, and what was being burned. The insurer may want an adjuster to see the damage before anything is repaired, and may ask for the fire department's report and the chimney inspection report.

Useful questions to ask in return: whether the chimney is treated as part of the dwelling, whether smoke and soot cleaning inside the rooms is handled separately from the chimney repair, whether you need approval before hiring a contractor, and what temporary measures they expect. Write down the name of the person you spoke with, the date and the claim number.

Smoke and soot inside the house

A chimney fire can push smoke and fine soot into the room through the fireplace opening, and into other rooms through cracks in the flue. Walls, ceilings, upholstery and the inside of closets near the chimney may carry an odor long after the fire is out.

That interior cleaning is a separate job from repairing the chimney, and many insurers handle it as a separate part of the claim. Photograph stained areas before cleaning anything, and ask the insurer how they want smoke damage assessed.

If someone feels ill after a chimney fire, or a CO alarm sounds while airing the house out, move everyone out of the house and dial 911.

Paperwork that helps

Keep the fire department's incident or report number, pictures of anything visible inside and out, and copies of past inspection and sweep records. Keep receipts for anything you paid to protect the house afterward, such as a temporary cap or a tarp over damaged roofing.

The written chimney inspection report describes each defect, where it is, and what repair it calls for. We write that report and the repair scope; the decision on coverage belongs to your insurer.

What the repair usually involves

The fix follows the damage. A flue with minor joint damage may be cleaned and resurfaced. Cracked or shifted tile through several sections usually means relining, often in stainless steel and sized for the fireplace or stove. A warped metal liner is replaced. Masonry cracked above the roofline, a split crown or a damaged cap are repaired at the same time, and any scorched framing is assessed by the appropriate trade.

Whatever the scope, the chimney goes back into service only after the damaged parts are repaired or replaced and the flue has been checked again.

Preventing the next one

Most chimney fires start in creosote, so the habits that limit creosote limit the risk. Burn split, seasoned wood, give fires enough air to burn bright, and have the flue inspected every year and swept whenever deposits show up. Avoid burning cardboard, wrapping paper, pizza boxes or big armloads of small kindling, which flare up fast and send burning fragments into a dirty flue. A cap with a spark screen keeps embers from landing on the roof, and a working smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm on every floor cover the rest.

Stoves and inserts need one more habit. Running them turned down for long stretches, especially overnight, fills the liner with cool, tarry smoke, and that is how glazed creosote builds up. Burn hot for a while after each reload, follow the manufacturer's instructions for overnight use, and have a liner that coats up quickly checked for size and insulation.