Deadly fires, alternatives ignored!

Here we go again. Another maine winter and house fires abound. Another year of snowmobiles going through the ice and deadly home fires continue in the news. I realize at the beginning of the snow season some people can't wait to take their sleds out and be the first to plow through the virgin snow and inevidably some wonder onto unsafe ice and plummet through thin ice and some into open water to their death. Whether alcohol or under the influence of other substances or totally sober this happens every winter in maine.
Another terrible tragedy are home fires and many, many times a wood stove, and or a creosote covered chimney is too blame. Every time a fire chief or captain, fire marshall steer the blame to combustibles in or around the wood burning appliance and the lack of smoke detectors or detectors without batteries are blamed for these deaths. There are those that happen due to personal smoking habits etc. but there is a spike in fires when the cold moves in! I am amazed at the indirect advertisement for chimney sweeps ( for lack of a better term ) when it is decided that poorly maintained chimney is blamed! I say decided because I believe this is too common a problem in the out lying areas where poverty is the norm and folks don't have any options to stay warm. House fires happen in the city's as well and people desparate to stay warm may overload electrical circuits and cause this as well.
My quiry is this, never and with out thought, alternative heating such as coal and coal appliances are spoken of in the same light as safety and comfort for many of our kind. There is literally millions of dollars spent on efficiency and weatherproofing homes, some are desparately needed but I feel plastic on windows and caulking around doors will not stop desparate people from burning down their home due to an unsafe condiion.
I know the Administration is anti coal, but this goes back further than the present Socialist regime! Why are we the minority,( burning coal and staying warm for the most part) safely and economically. Why isn't this brought to the forefront to folks on the fringe of devistation as an option so they won't become another winter, trying to stay warm stastistic. ...please all post your thoughts as I am off to work and won't return until late tonight, thank you!

MA,

In my neck of the woods in the early to mid 1900's a good number of homes burned coal, almost every old house has a coal bin in the basement. As a kid I was curious about why grandma had black rocks in her basement and she told me about burning coal. I remember what she said next.... never burn coal. She told me of several families in the village that lost loved ones to coal gas. Many of the old brick chimneys were a death sentence . With the arrival of natural gas and heating oil appliances , convenience and safety pushed coal aside. Now it seems that coal is making a comeback here in central NY thanks to changes in technology and rising prices for gas and oil. I will say that burning coal or wood isn't for everyone but unless you have more time than money coal is the answer IMHO.

Have you ever heard of "Bert and I"? great downeast humor.

Regards,

Waldo

waldo lemieux wrote:MA,

In my neck of the woods in the early to mid 1900's a good number of homes burned coal, almost every old house has a coal bin in the basement. As a kid I was curious about why grandma had black rocks in her basement and she told me about burning coal. I remember what she said next.... never burn coal. She told me of several families in the village that lost loved ones to coal gas. Many of the old brick chimneys were a death sentence . With the arrival of natural gas and heating oil appliances , convenience and safety pushed coal aside. Now it seems that coal is making a comeback here in central NY thanks to changes in technology and rising prices for gas and oil. I will say that burning coal or wood isn't for everyone but unless you have more time than money coal is the answer IMHO.

Have you ever heard of "Bert and I"? great downeast humor.

Regards,

Waldo

Thank you, I will check it out. I understand the problem with gases but all fossil fuels have the same deadly effect and a poor chimney will kill what ever in it's wake. A few years ago acouple recently retired died in a new home by south twin lake due to carbon monoxide poisoning, it was either a gas or oil appliance.

I think you answered your own question. The administration is anti-coal. But it hasn't only been this administration it's been a lot of them. There is a stigma surrounding coal. That it kills, it's dirty and it's dangerous. I didn't know anything about coal up until a few years ago. For the longest time I believed the same things about coal. It wasn't until I discovered this forum and the wonderful people on it and began educating myself about coal. People are either too lazy to research anything on their own or they just blindly follow what they've been told.

I'm On Fire wrote:It wasn't until I discovered this forum and the wonderful people on it

WOW! We have you fooled this long.

waldo lemieux wrote:As a kid I was curious about why grandma had black rocks in her basement and she told me about burning coal. I remember what she said next.... never burn coal. She told me of several families in the village that lost loved ones to coal gas. Many of the old brick chimneys were a death sentence.

I'm betting grandma's coal gas was carbon monoxide.

Flyer5 wrote:

I'm On Fire wrote:It wasn't until I discovered this forum and the wonderful people on it

WOW! We have you fooled this long.

I never said I was smart. Besides, I like the abuse. :p

The north east primarily heated with anthracite until the advent of fuel oil/natural gas. Poorly maintained/installed heating
equipment can kill ya regardless of the fuel. Fires from sloppy dumping of coal ash used to cause many fires in the day. When
I first installed my stove, my mom warned me about it and backed it up with stories of fires from her child hood. As far as the bad
name, primarily from bituminous coal. Dirty and stinky when it burns in mass, not pretty. Though it makes a great camp fire! Toss in a little global warming panic, here we
are. The only advantage to wood is that you can produce it yourself. Time and an axe and you can be warm. Where as, oil-gas-coal can not be. Though if you live
in the right place, you may be able to mine a little " black gold".

MikeAnth, you point out the very reason this country is in the situation it's in socially and economically.

Society has produced an entire generation of brain dead dolts. Everyone sees this every day whenever you venture out on the roads in a heavily populated area - namely cities. It's the reason people look right at you coming at them at 45 mph, and proceed to pull out, not even noticing that your inside a 40 ton hunk of steel standing 13' tall. It's the reason we have the government we have. It's the reason for everything that's frigged up in society today ......

IDIOTS.

SMITTY wrote:MikeAnth, you point out the very reason this country is in the situation it's in socially and economically.

Society has produced an entire generation of brain dead dolts. Everyone sees this every day whenever you venture out on the roads in a heavily populated area - namely cities. It's the reason people look right at you coming at them at 45 mph, and proceed to pull out, not even noticing that your inside a 40 ton hunk of steel standing 13' tall. It's the reason we have the government we have. It's the reason for everything that's frigged up in society today ......

IDIOTS.

Amen.

SMITTY wrote:MikeAnth, you point out the very reason this country is in the situation it's in socially and economically.

Society has produced an entire generation of brain dead dolts. Everyone sees this every day whenever you venture out on the roads in a heavily populated area - namely cities. It's the reason people look right at you coming at them at 45 mph, and proceed to pull out, not even noticing that your inside a 40 ton hunk of steel standing 13' tall. It's the reason we have the government we have. It's the reason for everything that's frigged up in society today ......

IDIOTS.

I am NOW more understanding of the saying "ignorance is bliss" if ain't happening on commonwealth ave, it ain't happening!