My mom and dad went out of town for the weekend and I asked my sister to watch the house.
My sister was in college at the time, but she was the person geographically closest to the house. I could have watched the house as well, but I would have been forced to commute an hour to work while I was there. My sister went to the house on Friday afternoon and she was going to stay there until the following Wednesday. Saturday afternoon was very cold and chilly. My sister tried to start a fire in the fireplace. She called me when the whole house was filled with smoke. I told my sister that the fireplace was probably blocked. She begged me to come help and I agreed. I really wanted to walk my sister through the steps of fixing the problem, but she sounded desperate when she called. I drove over to my mom’s place and I found my sister sitting alone in the house. There was smoke everywhere. I looked at the fireplace and I could see the chimney flue was closed. I tried to move the flue but it seemed to be stuck. I had to use a long pole to dislodge the flue. Thankfully, the metal piece shifted when I tapped it with the stick. I told my sister to keep the flue open until my Mom and Dad came back from vacation. They probably need to call the heating company to fix the problem. I’m sure it isn’t a major repair, but it will be helpful if the problem is fixed.