As temperatures drop, the risk of chimney fires increase and that’s a big concern for local fire departments.

Wayne Brown is a certified professional chimney cleaner with 35 years of experience. He says creosote build-up is the big risk.  It can start to burn slowly, without any outward warning signs and then flare up.

“Creosote is a tarry substance. It's usually caused by wood stoves and fireplaces being burned at low temperatures mixing with the moisture in the atmosphere outside, so you get condensation with the heat and the cold and it causes more of a build-up.”

John Irwin says over the winter he burns about two and a half cords of hardwood, while avoiding the softwoods.

“I won't burn cedar or pine,” he says. “It creates too much creosote; it gums up quicker than others.”

That gummy substance can catch fire.

“The more moisture in the wood, the more it builds up and it causes burning to slow down and that causes more smoke. The moisture allows the smoke to adhere to the chimney walls.

Barrie fire officials recommend using a seasoned dry hardwood for a clean burn. That includes hardwoods like oak, maple and cherry.

Irwin says he gets his chimney cleaned every year, something fire officials strongly recommend. The creosote flakes off as a dust and is easily cleaned up.

When choosing the smoke alarm to go up in the room, where the fireplace or wood burning stove is located, Barrie fire recommends homeowners use a photoelectric smoke alarm because it's best at detecting slow smouldering fires.