You Keep Fireplace Ashes Inside Your Home

Christmas day fire kills 7-year-old twins, a 9-year-old and the grandparents.  (Associated Press story).  The mother said she was concerned about the bag of ashes that her boyfriend placed on a plastic bin in the mud room.  She dismissed her worry because she saw her boyfriend run his hand through the ashes.  Ashes in a paper bag, on a plastic bin, both highly flammable.
When I bought my house in January of this year I went to a hardware store to buy a metal bucket with a lid to put my fireplace ashes in.  The clerk stated that even though the bucket is made of metal, ashes can burn right through the bucket, so always immediately put it outside in a safe place.
Running your hands through ashes does not guarantee that you'll come in contact with the few remaining hot ashes.  Even with a metal bucket I never cleaned out the fireplace until the next day and sometimes several days if I had a fire that burned most of the night.

Several years ago while at a camp with no central heat I'd bank the fire so it would last all night.  In the morning all I'd have to do is throw on some kindling and logs and the fire would roar to life again without help from a match.
If you sweep the ashes down the ash hole (no pun intended) be aware that ashes can be highly explosive so again make sure that there are no ambers remaining.  And don't worry about Santa Claus getting his suit dirty,  he's only bringing you another tie and underwear anyway.

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