Beware Industrious Birds

LAST night at 5:55pm the Scone fire crew was called to a house fire in Susan Street, Scone caused by a bird nest in the fire flue catching alight.

The owner of the property (Elizabeth Flaherty – aka me) was cooking a chicken ‘flu’ fighter soup, an irony which was not lost on her, when she noticed the lounge room filling with smoke.

“I noticed smoke accumulating in the lounge room and then saw smoke coming out of the brickwork of the fire place,” said Elizabeth Flaherty.

“I asked my daughter to phone her Pop who lives a couple of doors down and she helped evacuate the animals from the house while I called 000,” I said.

“While we were waiting on the local fire crew to arrive I put the fire out in the fire place and my Dad climbed on the roof with a hose to douse the flames in the flue,” I said.

Eleven year old Iris Flaherty, said her Pop had loaned his ladders to a friend, but she was able to help.

“I remembered Dad had a ladder down the back so I showed Pop where it was and he got onto the roof,” said Iris.

“I helped by turning the hose on for him and I think I wet Mum in the process as she ran past,” she said.

When the local fire crew arrived they inspected the roof to ensure the fire had not spread into the ceiling, which it had not.

Robert Collison, deputy captain of the Scone fire brigade said, “we’ve had a few warm days so the birds are starting to build nests and this is exactly what can happen when one is in a flue,” he said.

Having covered house fire stories the owner of the property said she was emphatic about only burning properly dried wood, but even burning newspaper in the fireplace as a fire starter can create build up in the chimney and create a hot spot for a fire to start explained Mr Collison.

“I’d recommend everyone get the heat bricks from the hardware store to clean out their chimney regularly and make sure smoke alarms are installed in the bedrooms,” he said.

Ms Flaherty praised the efforts of the local fire crew, “it is definitely one of those times you appreciate being in a small country town where crews can arrive so quickly.”

“They were here quickly, but it was incredible how quickly the fire happened and I’m glad my Dad was able to get onto the roof, while they were on the way,” I said.

“They were very thorough checking the roof and incredibly polite even during a fire, they took the time to make sure they didn’t damage an antique light fitting near the man hole as they climbed through and wiped their feet each time they walked in the house, not something any of my family ever bother to do, so their attention to detail and courtesy was surprisingly refreshing,” I said.

“We are lucky to have such a nice group of firies who are so quick to respond,” I said.

Co-owner of the property Michael Flaherty said he was surprised by how quickly the birds had built the nest.

“We had the fire on the night before and there was no issue, so clearly they have built the **** nest in a day,” he said.

Six year old Adele Flaherty was more philosophical about the house nearly being burnt down.

“It was just nature trying to create more nature for us,” she said.