When I was a kid, I lived in a home with high ceilings and thin windows, the house was built in the 70s in the southwest, where building codes were just beginning to grow lax again. Since the place had cathedral ceilings to stay cool in the summer, it was absolutely strenuous impossible to heat in the winter. The cost of trying to keep all of that square footage moderate warm with a forced air heating and cooling unit was just awful–all of the heat just kept rising up into the cathedral ceiling, one winter, my mom had finally had it and then decided to use the wood burning fireplace, and it was a good sized chimney as well as hearth, as well as that though fires were strenuous to light it certainly helped with the problem a lot. However, my parents were also young at the time and unaware how much danger all of us were in, until it was almost too late. One evening the smoke started pouring down the chimney fast–a sure sign of a chimney fire. We all were evacuated while firefighters put out the sparks and fire before it could spread. Our house was saved, as well as my parents were given a stern lecture on fireplace repair as well as chimney care. To this absolutely day, I remember every aspect of the fireplace–from what not to burn to how to remove creosote residue–because I never want to relive that evening again for life!