An inquest into the death of a UK family in December 2011 has heard that Trevor Wallwork, 50 and his children Kimberly, 12 and Harry, 9 died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning from a coal fire. The family were watching TV when an empty chip packet that was thrown onto the coal fire blew up like a balloon and got stuck inside the flue. The blockage prevented the odourless but toxic fumes of the burning coal from escaping, sending them back into the room where they built up to fatal concentrations.
There are two important lessons to be learnt from this tragedy. First, burning coal in a domestic fireplace is really not a good idea; the invisible fumes are highly toxic and not easily detected like wood smoke would be. Thankfully in Australia coal is not a common domestic heating fuel, mainly due to the ready availability of good quality, high density firewood, but it is still burnt by some people. Second, domestic fires should never be used to burn household waste. Although this was a freak accident, the consequences of incinerating refuse in a domestic heater can be much more serious than simply annoying your neighbours with the nasty smells coming out of your chimney. Many of the combustion by-products from burning packaging, plastic and other refuse can be very harmful to you as well as to your neighbours.
