Is Your Gutter a Fire Hazard?
We’ve all heard the basic tips for avoiding accidental fires in the home. Don’t play with matches. Don’t smoke in bed. Make sure that fire hazards like bare electrical wires, unattended hot stoves, or malfunctioning fireplaces are not present in your home.
But what about your gutters? Are they a fire hazard? It’s very possible. Homes in California narrowly averted serious damage after fires were discovered in their gutters. If not for the keen eyes of neighbors, these homes could have gone up in flames – and even claimed the lives of their occupants.
So why exactly do gutters present a fire danger to homes? Because of what may be inside them.
It’s quite common for leaves, twigs, pine needles, and other debris to fall into gutters from the roof or overhanging trees. If this debris is allowed to build up, it’s like having a supply of flame-friendly kindling right in your gutters.
When this happens, it only takes a single spark to ignite the debris inside the gutters and cause a fire. This spark can come from burning trash piles, fireworks, a chimney, or nearby brush fires. Wind in the area can propel embers from the source to a gutter; in fact, firefighters caution that embers from an open fire often travel as far as a mile away from their origination point.
Clogged or debris-filled gutters represent one of the largest fire vulnerabilities for a building. That’s why firefighters and home improvement experts strongly urge homeowners to clean out their gutters regularly, especially if the weather is dry and windy. Scraping, vacuuming, blowing, or power washing the unwanted material out of the gutters usually takes only a few hours of work. For homeowners who don’t wish to clean their gutters themselves, Urbach Roofing as well as other contractors will handle it for a relatively small fee. It's also been pointed out to us that some homeowners insurance company's offer discounts for cleaning gutters, since the homeowner is actively maintaining them to reduce the risk of fire hazards. We recommend contacting your insurance carrier to inquire about any discounts.
One way to prevent gutters from becoming clogged in the first place is to install gutter guards. These products fit over the top of the gutters and keep debris out, but are designed to allow runoff water to flow easily into the gutters. Gutter guards are an excellent way to eliminate a potential fire hazard.
When you think of gutters, you usually think of water, not fire. However, allowing your gutters to become clogged increases the chances that your home will fall victim to fire. If that’s not a good reason to clean your gutters, we don’t know what is.
But what about your gutters? Are they a fire hazard? It’s very possible. Homes in California narrowly averted serious damage after fires were discovered in their gutters. If not for the keen eyes of neighbors, these homes could have gone up in flames – and even claimed the lives of their occupants.
So why exactly do gutters present a fire danger to homes? Because of what may be inside them.
It’s quite common for leaves, twigs, pine needles, and other debris to fall into gutters from the roof or overhanging trees. If this debris is allowed to build up, it’s like having a supply of flame-friendly kindling right in your gutters.
When this happens, it only takes a single spark to ignite the debris inside the gutters and cause a fire. This spark can come from burning trash piles, fireworks, a chimney, or nearby brush fires. Wind in the area can propel embers from the source to a gutter; in fact, firefighters caution that embers from an open fire often travel as far as a mile away from their origination point.
Clogged or debris-filled gutters represent one of the largest fire vulnerabilities for a building. That’s why firefighters and home improvement experts strongly urge homeowners to clean out their gutters regularly, especially if the weather is dry and windy. Scraping, vacuuming, blowing, or power washing the unwanted material out of the gutters usually takes only a few hours of work. For homeowners who don’t wish to clean their gutters themselves, Urbach Roofing as well as other contractors will handle it for a relatively small fee. It's also been pointed out to us that some homeowners insurance company's offer discounts for cleaning gutters, since the homeowner is actively maintaining them to reduce the risk of fire hazards. We recommend contacting your insurance carrier to inquire about any discounts.
One way to prevent gutters from becoming clogged in the first place is to install gutter guards. These products fit over the top of the gutters and keep debris out, but are designed to allow runoff water to flow easily into the gutters. Gutter guards are an excellent way to eliminate a potential fire hazard.
When you think of gutters, you usually think of water, not fire. However, allowing your gutters to become clogged increases the chances that your home will fall victim to fire. If that’s not a good reason to clean your gutters, we don’t know what is.
