Spontaneous Combustion of a Flower Pot

dirtydan

13 years ago

Insurance company: Flowers started Ark. house fire

Sounds unbelievable but reported by AP

Here is a link that might be useful: News Article

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Comments (5)

gtippitt
13 years ago
The news article sounds like somebody put out a cigarette in a flower pot that ignited the dry potting soil. I used to live in Atlanta, where they occasionally would have fires at the city's composting facility. The compost in huge piles got hot inside, and the dry outsides would ignite, but I can't believe a dry flowerpot could spontaneously ignite.

Greg
cebury
13 years ago
No way. I just can't believe that. I'm not one to use organics in my container potting medium, so when I leave dead flowers in a pot, outdoors, in the 110+ dry heat... they just dry out and stay inflammably dead.

from the article: >>> Spontaneous combustion is something where you have to have a lot of variables come together and it has to be just right," Wills told Jonesboro television station KAIT. "It's something that does happen, but this is the first one in our area that I'm aware of."

Yeah, conditions like a cigarette bud... or the neighbor kid with a magnifying glass handy. Maybe they used gasoline to kill off the plants at the end of the season.

Although I could create conditions to cause spontaneous combustion due to composting -- I just can't see that happening in a typical potting container.

Maybe I could talk my son into doing this for a science experiment. We could invent some additive and sell special "flame retardant potting soil" and get the insurance industry Seal of Approval.
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Can a compost pile really self combust?
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FYI, You can see plenty of images of industrial sized piles by Googling "compost fire." I also Googled "backyard compost fire" and came across at least one incident in which a plastic bin had burned up. Certainly very rare though. Spontaneous combustion is a strange thing. I suspect it begins on a microscopic level. It only takes a tiny volume of material to start feeding on itself to get it started. An itty bitty spot in the maelstrom where the conditions are just right for a few minutes. You couldn't stick a thermometer in and measure temperatures capable of combustion though.
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this is one reason i hate dealing with potted plants
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Well, you just never know. LOL. I did experience spontaneous combustion once, and let me tell you it weren't purty. Picture the manure from five roosters and ninety four laying hens and all the layers of straw and hay containing said waste over a period of weeks. Then picture about ten wheelbarrow loads of it in a tidy compost pile aging for the fall garden dressing. Then picture dark wafts of very smelly smoke coming from the edge of the woods. Now imagine what it smelled like. The shed was too far away from the outside irrigation lines, so lengths of hose had to be assembled and pulled through the orchard and I had to stand out there raking the crap (literally) out so the water would extinguish it. I think it's still lurking in my sinus cavities ten years later. Ah the joys of organic gardening.
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Spontaneous Combustion in Soil
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I'd argue that the main takeaway here should not be debating whether spontaneous combustion of potting soil is possible or extremely rare or impossible (although fire marshals say it is, and it is pretty well established it exists in other circumstances/other materials, so can't be ruled out). The main takeaway is: some types of potting soil (esp peat) are extremely flammable and should not be stored in places where they would cause fire damage, even in a garage or greenhouse or shed. Whether combustion is from some unknown spark or biological or chemical reaction or other, it can burn - even if it seems almost impossible. From some experience with peat - it can be very flammable; it can smolder unnoticed for quite some time (with not much, almost no, smoke showing); heat can build up inside due to it being tightly-packed (structurally); there may be unexpected situations like it being at high temperature internally - smoldering - just waiting for enough air to flame up. It just shouldn't be stored like this, even if likelihood is low.
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Potting Mix Fire Hazard?
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Comments (4)
Potting soil contains a lot of organic matter. Just as compost heats up when decomposing, so could potting soil. I would think that in Montreal, the soil would be too cold to decompose. In any event, you could store your bulbs dry in paper bags instead of in pots. See the link for a warning from the city of Langley Here is a link that might be useful: Potting soil fire
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suddensam
13 years ago
Bullcrapola
Plant em if you got em.
Sam
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
13 years ago
You've never heard of spontaneous combustion at compost or wood chip storage facilities?
cebury
13 years ago
Fires at large storage facilities is established as factual. Heck, in a 3CF bag of bark that is moist and has been breaking down in the sun gets very warm in the core.

>>> Although I could create conditions to cause spontaneous combustion due to composting -- I just can't see that happening in a typical potting container.

Flowers that died and dried out in a potting mix won't do that. If so, there must've been more to it the homeowner didn't share, like they recently put fresh compost ingredients in it and then put dead flowers back on top, and the pot must've been very large.

Oh well, funny story anyway.

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Spontaneous Combustion of a Flower Pot

Comments (5)

gtippitt

cebury

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suddensam

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

cebury

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