Mon, 02/29/2016 - 4:15pm

Holly S. Edwards

Failure to install this stove pipe with a double jacket or other protection from the wood wall it went through was blamed for igniting a fire Saturday night in Rockport. (Courtesy Rockport Fire Department)

A Rockland firefighter cuts through the wall of the house on Winding Way Saturday night, during work to extinguish a fire there. (Courtesy Rockport Fire Department)

Wiring for an electrical switch, and the bit of wire and a nail used to hold it up above the stove pipe, actually acted as a heat conductor to exacerbate the problem that caused the wall to catch fire. (Courtesy Rockport Fire Department)

In lieu of a double-metal jacket or other kind of heat shield, aluminum foil was used to try and protect the wood wall from the heat emanating from the pipe stove during use. But the foil, also a metal, actually acted as a heat conductor and helped ignite the wood wall. (Courtesy Rockport Fire Department)

A Rockland firefighter cuts through the wall of the house on Winding Way Saturday night, during work to extinguish a fire there. (Courtesy Rockport Fire Department)

ROCKPORT — A weekend fire at a home on Winding Way in Rockport, overlooking Chickawaukee Pond, was deemed an accident but caused by an improperly installed stove pipe through the wall.

Rockport Fire Chief Jason Peasley said Monday afternoon that while working to put out the fire Saturday night, which was called in to 911 by neighbors next door and across the pond around 7:30 p.m., he saw what looked like an issue with the stove pipe, where the fire also appeared to have started.

“The stove pipe was not double-jacketed or protected from the wall where it went through and outside,” said Peasley. “That exposed the wood wall directly to the heat, with no shield.”

To confirm his suspicions and officially determine the fire’s cause, Peasley called the State Fire Marshal’s Office, which sent an investigator to the scene Monday.

Firefighters from Rockland, Camden and Hope joined Rockport Feb. 27 to battle the blaze, which sent flames up the side of the house and high above the trees. The fire burned through the wall, which had to also be cut open further during the work to extinguish the fire, and the first and second floors on the fire side of the home sustained some amount of either smoke or water damage, or both.

Nobody was home at the time of the fire, but the tenant arrived shortly after firefighters and asked if they would save a personally valuable collection of guitars. After the fire was under control and the building was deemed safe, Peasley said he allowed a couple of his guys to go inside and retrieve the instruments, which were in a room untouched by the fire and the water used to put it out.

Peasley said that in addition to the improper installation of the stove pipe, aluminum foil had been wrapped around the pipe, possibly as a substitute for proper insulation, and wiring for an adjacent electrical switch was just above the pipe and tacked up with a nail and some wire in an attempt to keep it from touching the pipe.

“Using tin foil actually made the problem worse, as did the wire, because heated metal actually conducts the heat further, and the wire got so hot it burned through, and all of this was in direct contact with the wood wall,” said Peasley.

Firefighters Saturday night had the fire under control is less than 30 minutes, and cleared the scene about an hour after that, once they finished mopping up and extinguishing hot spots.

Reach Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com and 207-706-6655.