County hot spot for chimney fires

Fire officers recommend cleaning chimneys one a year

Half of all house fires in Gwynedd were caused by chimney fires last year according to North Wales fire serivce.

Fire chiefs in the county said the 89 fires could have been avoided if householders had made sure their chimneys had been swept.

North Wales as a whole had one of the highest number of chimney fires in the UK with 265 in the last year.

The figure is put down to the number of homes still with working fireplaces.

"The problem arises when soot builds up over a period of time and it starts to burn," said fire officer Gareth Wyn Griffiths.

"A fire from a chimney can easily move to other areas of the house, depending on the design of the chimney," he added.

North Wales has one of the highest numbers of chimney fires in the UK

Chimneys should be cleaned at least once a year, depending on the type of fuel burnt.

Sweep Cadfan Roberts from Carmel near Caernarfon said: "People are generally lazy about having the chimney swept.

"Its possibly because they don't see the soot, but if the chimney blocks, you won't see the carbon monoxide building up in the room."

Mark Jones, community safety manager with the fire service added that chimneys should also be swept if an open fire was being replaced with a gas appliance to avoid the threat of carbon monoxide gas build-up.