How to Extinguish Your Wood Burning Fireplace
A warm wood fire on a cold night is relaxing and romantic, but raises the question of how to extinguish your wood burning fireplace at the end of the evening. After all, you don't want to go to bed with the fire still burning. Even hot embers can cause problems since they may continue to throw sparks.
To start with, keep fires in your wood burning fireplace small. It will be a lot easier and safer to extinguish. Also, use smaller pieces of wood.
Don’t Pour Water
One thing you shouldn't do is attempt to extinguish a burning fire in a fireplace. Pouring water on it will cause smoke to billow, making a mess and perhaps even smoke damage. Water will also cause cracks in the bricks in the hearth, ruining your fireplace. And a fire extinguisher is simply out of the question, unless there's an emergency. Also, don't close the damper of your fireplace while there's a fire in it or while the embers are still hot. Closing the damper will not smother the fire and will likely fill your home with smoke.
Spread Wood Out
Even if the fire is still burning, there are steps you can take to extinguish your wood burning fireplace. First, use fireplace pokers and tongs to spread out the still burning wood and larger embers. Separate them as much as possible. Then, use a fireplace shovel and cover any flaming logs or hot embers with ashes. If your fireplace has glass doors, close them tightly (but again, do not close the damper).
If you are in a hurry, you can cover the fire and hot embers with sand. However, keep in mind that you will need to clean out the sand before using the fireplace again. However, it’s probably better to take your time with some of the steps mentioned above, close the glass doors, pull the mesh screen or place a fireplace cover in front of your fireplace. If you don't have any these, you should have them for safety reasons.
