Building and maintaining a good fire will help keep creosote buildup to a minimum and reduce your chances of a chimney fire.

Back to the basics, Fire consists of three key ingredients:
1. Air
2. Fuel
3. Heat
Too much or too little of any of these key ingredients will result in improper combustion and the creation of creosote.

Wood burning (how to create and maintain a fire)
In the firebox/ woodstove burning area place dry kindling wood on top of fire-starting material, for example, manufactured fire-starter, fatwood, newspaper, torch-stone etc. Kindling should be small wood ½ inch to 2 inches in diameter.

When the kindling starts to turn to charcoal, add larger pieces of dry, seasoned, split firewood on top, there should be sufficient heat and air at this point to ignite the wood.

An over abundance of smoke is an indication not enough heat or air, the less smoky the fire the better. Excessive smoke could also result from improperly seasoned or wet wood.

Add firewood as needed to maintain desired amount of fire inside firebox, and red-hot coals in the coal bed. Be careful not too add too much wood that the flames are reaching into the smoke-chamber or if in a wood stove/insert flame passing the flue collar.

Fire building seems straight forward and almost silly to talk about, but each appliance wither it be a fireplace or wood stoves have there own special characteristics (for example chimney height, flue size, location of chimney, etc) that will change the dynamics of how you build and maintain the fire, even the weather outside will change the way you build your fire from one day to the next.

Remember the key ingredients of a fire (air, fuel, heat) and if they are not in balance you will have improper combustion, resulting in problems such as back puffing, downdrafts, fireplace odors, and general dissatisfaction with the appliance.
Please note:
1. Fireplaces are considered a decorative appliances and should not be used as a heat source.
2. Wood stoves and wood burning inserts operate differently depending on the make and model, please consult you owner manual for proper operation