While many people spend the depths of winter dreaming of sun-soaked summer days, Jack Mahoney of Dublin City Chimney Sweeps in Gales Ferry is happy to spend a nice cold day hard at work.

"I've worked outdoors my whole life and (the cold) doesn't faze me at all," said Mahoney, who has worked in chimney installation and repairs for the last 18 years and first became acclimated to the conditions as an airport runway worker at John F. Kennedy and La Guardia airports in New York City.

For many aspects of his job, like identifying and eliminating drafts, the cold weather actually makes working easier, Mahoney said.

"In the cold weather like this, we have a better opportunity to see what's going on. In the summer, we're guessing at what we're looking at. On days like this, we get to see what is happening. We can actually see the heat coming out through the chimney," he said.

Mahoney does differentiate between a regular cold winter day and a snowy winter day. Cold days are fine; snowy or icy days mean it's too dangerous to be up on a roof.

"When the roofs are icy, we can't work. ...The job is dangerous enough as it is without adding conditions to it like slippery roofs. Just think of walking on ice on a very slanted road. It becomes so dangerous," Mahoney said.

However, for many people who don't think about their chimneys, stoves or fireplaces until the snow starts falling, the few days before a big snowstorm can mean a lot of calls coming in from people looking for immediate repairs.

"This time of year is when we get emergency calls from people who are having issues. We have had six phone calls today and they all wanted their chimneys fixed," Mahoney said Monday afternoon. "(I say) 'Have you looked outside? Would you put your kid up there? Have you tried to walk down your driveway?' It's a condition where it's too unpredictable. Whatever the services you needed that day, it's just too risky."

To avoid these emergency calls, Mahoney suggests homeowners have their chimneys and wood burning and pellet stoves cleaned annually, preferably in the spring or fall when temperatures aren't so extreme and are better for repairing concrete, which cannot be done during extreme cold. He also recommends people check their generators periodically so they're not caught out in the cold.

"It's just a furnace with a different fuel; it's going to break down on the coldest day. You have 364 other days to do it, and now it's important," he said.

j.hopper@theday.com

Twitter: @JessHoppa