Warning given on fuel stoves

Press, 23 July 1986, Page 8

Warning given on fuel stoves

PA Wellington The Fire Service says it is worried about some solid-fuel stoves Installed in open fireplaces after serveral fires in Masterton. In five recent fires, timber in walls near new stoves had caught fire because of being too close to the chimney and not enough air circulating. “Solid-fuel enclosed stoves generate far more heat than open fires,” said the Fire Service director of fire safety, Mr Kevin Henderson. The risk was that a fire starting in wall timber, could quickly spread into a roof. The fires at Masterton all had been in houses built between 1953 and 1963 with solid-fuel stoves installed in open fireplaces. The Fire Service called

a special meeting in Wellington on Wednesday to discuss the problem with experts from the Building Research Association of New Zealand. B.R.A.N.Z. would immediately prepare information on the risks and remedies and hope to have this circulated to local authorities, master builders and fire-safety departments within two weeks. In the meantime, people with solid fuel stoves installed in open fireplaces , were advised to have these checked before further use he said. A fire-safety officer in Christchurch, Mr John Sinclair, said that as yet there had been no fire in the city caused by the same installation problems that had occurred at Masterton.