Despite the milder than usual winter so far Napier firefighters have still been regularly called to chimney fires.
Callouts are often to homes where chimneys haven't been kept clean, says Napier station officer Peter Draper.
"They've been quite regular and it seems to come down to money - it costs to get them cleaned and it's something people tend to keep putting off."
While on most occasions the only fall-out from a chimney fire, which results from the build-up of ash and soot igniting, is like a "roman candle" burning out the top, the potential danger was always there.
Mr Draper said internal chimneys, where mortar may have broken creating gaps, allowed heat and smoke to discharge into ceiling spaces where they would continue to build up.
"Then one night it just goes 'boof!' and you've got a ceiling fire."
He said one crew went to a call-out where the occupants of the property had begun to get worried about the wall around the fireplace getting hot.
After breaking through the wall the firefighters came across a deep pile of ash and soot, and a heat-leaking chimney.
"If the walls are hot call us straight away."
Mr Draper said people who had reported chimney fires almost all said the same thing - they meant to get it done but kept putting it off.
"It's like getting firewood - get it done early - don't put it off until the time you need it."
Anyone with any doubts about when their chimney was last cleaned, or aware it needed cleaning, should "get right onto it now", he said.
- Chimney fires create a strange, hot smell and cause smoke to roll down into the firebox instead of flowing out. They also cause loud pops from inside the fireplace area.