![]() "I never thought I'd make it this far," he said. Rasmussen does what he can to stay safe, but he's not too worried, anyway. Regulations and practices have changed a lot since the days when asthma, cancer and inflammation of the chest were regular occupational hazards of being a chimney sweep. ![]() "That's the closest I ever came to thinking 'that's it for me,'" Rasmussen said. Wearing a hard hat, goggles and a breathing mask, he escaped only by slowly kicking the stuff away with his feet, and eventually wiggling back down the chimney. Once, while climbing inside a chimney flue at a former tool factory in Cambridge, the creosote lining collapsed on him, filling the chamber up to his nose. There's always the risk of slipping and falling off roofs, and he's had a few close calls. Of course it's dirty work, but it's also dangerous, too. He dragged 27 five-gallon pails of soot from the chimney. The worst job was at the former KW Granite Club, built during the coal furnace era. In 45 years as a mason and chimney sweep, he figures he's brushed, swept and cleaned thousands of home furnace flues, fireplaces, blast furnaces and even pizza ovens. "It's one of those jobs that people don't want to do themselves." But I have a shower every night whether I need it or not," he said. "I'm pretty black at the end of most days. ![]() It is, as you might imagine, not a clean job. He's hauled out a lifetime of soot, ash and creosote in a trade that's slowly being phased out by natural gas heating. He's one of a handful of people left in Waterloo Region who are certified to clean out the chimneys from wood fireplaces and oil furnaces. Kitchener's Rasmussen, 66, is a real-life chimney sweep, unlike those jovial, acrobatic workers popularized in the Mary Poppins movie. But he does clean chimneys, and lots of them. KITCHENER - Henry Rasmussen doesn't dance, sing or have a Cockney accent.
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