More than any other fuel, The use of wood demands considerable preperation and provision.All over the UK there is evidence of trees being planted to replace those that are cut down,Measured by weight or volume wood has only half the heat of coal, It is essential the wood is dried/Seasoned for at least 12 Months prior to use, Moisture content should be 20% or less, Tar and soot damage by solid fuel burning in never ending, the current vogue for slow overnight burning in coal and wood burning stoves unwittingly creates the ideal conditions for the formation of tar (in wood burning stoves) and soot in (coal burning stoves) on the inner surface of the flue. It is not generally realised that slow burning for long periods (several hours or even days) is something which very few stoves are designed to achieve. Tar formation poses  difficult problems, In  ordinary daily working, tar  tends to build up when the fire is set at ‘slumber’ level, subsequently, when the air vents are opened up and the heat of the fire is raised it is easily possible for the tar in the flue to ignite creating a chimney fire of dangerous preportions. the only remedy is to extiguish the fire by closing the air vents on the appliance and put  wet sand on the fire, The extreme heat of a chimney fire could have damaged the lining, this should be checked by a chimney engineer or chimney sweep, Occasionally chimney pots or cowls are damaged these should also be checked.