By Rick Ryckeley
Fayette County Fire & Emergency Services

"Dad, what do you want for Christmas?" is the question kids across this country are asking. Thirty-eight years ago, I asked my Dad that same question.

His answer was, "Son, always remember, if you have your

health, you have everything. But, if you have everything and don't have good health, you really have nothing. All I want is to spend the whole day with you and the rest of the family."

I was five-years old at the time. Now, thirty-eight years later, those words have come home to roost in a way I never could imagine.

That was the same year that my three brothers and I thought we heard Santa Claus and his reindeer on our roof. It was also the only time it has snowed in Georgia on Christmas Eve. We yelled for Mom as the sound of sleigh bells got nearer, and the sound of someone walking on the roof got louder. She came in the room and said, "Kids, sounds like Santa is here. Better go to sleep. You know if you're awake, he won't leave you any presents."

At that moment, we heard a loud scream and a thud outside the bedroom window. We hurried off to bed as Mom hurried outside to find out what all the noise was. The next day Mom did not talk about what or who had made the noise or how Dad broke his ankle. But we all knew; the great secret was out. Santa Claus had fallen off our roof, and Dad saved Christmas by catching him, breaking his ankle in the process. If you have your health, you have everything.

Dad, when you're up on the roof this Christmas eve, helping the fat man in the red suit out of his sleigh, take a look inside your chimney. If you see something black and shiny, Santa is not the only thing that needs to go down your chimney. You need to call a chimney sweep to clean the creosote off the walls. A friend of my heats his entire house with a wood burning stove. I know he is the exception to the rule, using a wood stove for heat instead of a switch on the wall, but he likes the exercise. (I think it helps keep his cholesterol down, but that's a story for next week.) As the temperature drops, many families will be using fireplaces, wood stoves, and space heaters for the first time.

These heating sources are less expensive to buy, install, and far less expensive to run than conventional central heating systems. Because of increases in gas and electricity, they have become extremely popular and can also be extremely dangerous. My friend tells me that he calls a chimney sweep every year to clean the creosote off the inside of his chimney.

"A fire can start with just 1/8 inch of creosote built up on the inside lining of the chimney walls. This amount can collect with just one year of use. Creosote can start a chimney fire which can burn at temperatures over 3,000 degrees. This high temperature can damage or destroy most chimney, fireplaces, or stoves."

He finished by telling me to shine a flash light up my chimney and if I see a black shiny substance I need to get my chimney cleaned. "At least once a year," he said.

My Dad does not stomp on roofs anymore; those days have long past. He has since retired and moved away to Florida. From the balcony of his condo, he sits and enjoys reading as he listens to the waves of the Gulf come crashing in.

He had cataract surgery last month on his left eye. Now he can see things far away clear as a bell. Last week he had the right eye done; things did not go so well. My Dad cannot read anymore.

"If you have your health, you have everything," he said to me so many years ago. "If you donít have your health, you have nothing."

This holiday season I am thankful for my good health. I have two good eyes to see my love ones, two strong arms to pick them up if they fall, and two fast legs to run to them if they call.

After two or three days with family and friends you will need a break, so go outside, but take the ashes with you. Don't keep ashes inside; place them in a metal container outside far away from the house.

Coals can stay live for days and have caused many a house fire when place on the back porch. Charcoal can give off lethal amounts of carbon monoxide gas (so can Grandma's fruitcake), so never burn it in your fireplace or wood stove. (I don't know if it's safe to burn Grandma's fruitcake either.)

If you are using a wood stove or kerosene heater inside the home, make sure adequate clearance (at least 36 inches) in all directions is observed. Kerosene heaters should burn only "K-1" grade kerosene and should be extinguished prior to bedtime. A window in the room with the heater should be cracked two inches to insure proper ventilation.

"Dad, what do you want for Christmas?" my five-year-old son asked. He has asked that same question now for the last ten years, and every year I have given him the same answer my Dad gave me. I said, "All I want to do is spend the whole day with you."

Last week my son again asked, "Dad, what do you want for Christmas?" This year I gave him a different answer. I said, "Son, all I want for Christmas is for your Granddad to be able to read this story."

Merry Christmas, Dad. Hope you can see me soon.

[Rick Ryckeley is with the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services. He can be reached at saferick@bellsouth.net.]

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