The fireplace looks like a handy place to dispose of unwanted combustibles, but it’s safest to burn only dry, seasoned firewood.  Many items you might innocently pop into the fireplace create serious safety hazards.

1.  Don’t burn colored paper.  The inks used in wrapping paper, newspaper inserts, and magazines contain metals that can give off toxic fumes when burned.  Paper burns very quickly, so there is also a danger that flames may enter the chimney and ignite the creosote deposits in the flue.  Balls of paper can ‘float’ up the chimney on the hot air that is rising through the chimney and ignite flammable materials outside the home.
2. Never burn painted, stained, or treated wood or manufactured wood like plywood and particle board. Chemicals in ‘salt treated’ wood, paint, or stains can produce toxic fumes when burned.  Likewise, burning manufactured wood products produces toxins and carcinogens.
3. Never burn plastics or chemicals because the fumes can be toxic.
4. Never use accelerants like gasoline, kerosene, or barbecue lighter fluid to start a fire in your fireplace.  These highly flammable substances can produce unexpectedly large flare-ups.
5. Don’t burn coal or charcoal in your fireplace.  These fuels burn much hotter than wood and may exceed the temperature levels that are safe for your fireplace and chimney.  They also produce much more carbon monoxide–a colorless, odorless gas that can kill—than wood does.
6. Don’t burn the Christmas tree or other evergreen decorations.  Dry evergreens are loaded with resin that burns very quickly and ‘pops’ producing embers that can rise through the chimney and start chimney fires.