Throwback Thursday post: Original posting date June 8th, 2009.

Assistant Chief David Wolf from Cayuga Heights (NY) Fire Department sent in these photos of a friend’s house in Houston. The initial view from the scuttle opening makes it look like any other attic set-up we would expect to find, however that wouldn’t make for a good post. A closer look reveals the problem.

Not only do roof over’s make the ventilation process much more difficult, they may also allow the fire to burn undetected for quite some time. They are more common than we may originally expect and are something we should have a back-up plan to deal with. Sure, most codes won’t allow this, but we all know how that goes. Nothing worse than opening the vent only to find an attic full of $#!+, or better yet, another roof to deal with.