# Spontaneous combustion



## mtlogcabin (Sep 2, 2010)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A fire that did $20,000 in damages to a northeast Arkansas home wasn't caused by an electrical problem or burning food or arson, an insurance investigator concluded. Instead, the dead plants did it, according to a report summary provided to the homeowner, Brian Duncan. "The fire was caused by self-heating through decomposition of organic materials contained within a plastic flowerpot," the Aug. 25 letter from State Farm Insurance Co. said.

Or, in layman's terms, spontaneous combustion.

Duncan, whose home is a few miles south of Paragould, said the flowerpot had contained dead, decomposing flowers and potting soil that his wife had planted in the summer of 2009. Paragould is about 150 miles northeast of Little Rock.

"She had intended on repotting (the flowers)," Duncan said. But they sat on the porch, unwatered, and eventually died.

He said it was clear where the July 25 fire had begun, because the burning flowerpot and plants charred a hole in the porch and they fell to the ground several feet below.

Still, Duncan said he was surprised at the conclusion contained in the letter. Duncan provided The Associated Press with a copy.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the blaze and Duncan's father-in-law was able to put it out with a garden hose even before firefighters from a nearby volunteer fire department arrived.

But it still caused some damage.

Duncan, 51, CEO of Craighead Electric Cooperative, said the blaze charred decking around the hole where the flowerpot had been, and caught the home's vinyl siding on fire. He said the heat broke a sidelight window next to the front door, and his air-conditioning system sucked in smoke from the fire.

"The house was full of smoke," he said.

The smoke damage inside the 15-year-old home, Duncan said, meant his family had to repaint the entire interior of the 2,200-square-foot home and replace the carpeting, in addition to replacing the vinyl siding on the front of the house and the wooden decking of the porch.

Duncan said that, since the fire, he had begun spreading the word about the potential fire hazards of dead plants.

A fire marshal in nearby Jonesboro, Jason Wills, said such an occurrence was rare.

"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."


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## peach (Sep 2, 2010)

Yeah, I saw that too..

Being the fine gardener that I am.. and looking at 3 dead petunias and one dead hydrangea that I've been trying to resurrect.. maybe I'll pitch them in the garbage tomorrow..


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## Yankee (Sep 2, 2010)

. . . well . . ok. . but a match in that pot would cause the same thing, right?


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## FM William Burns (Sep 2, 2010)

Or....like a fire I saw develop back in south Florida.  The Mockingbird took my spent butt thrown onto the tarmack up into it's nest and aprox. four minutes later they scrambled for flight and we had a tree fire.  I hope there were no eggs in the nest


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## FyrBldgGuy (Sep 3, 2010)

Yes I could see FM and the mockingbird.


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## Inspector 102 (Sep 3, 2010)

I actually experienced a similar situation with a local resident. Plater boxes on the wood deck appear to combust without any electrical source in the area, no severe weather, and no one smokes at the house. We listed it as undetermined and still scratch our heads when we think about it. Did have a case of spontaneous combustion with linseed oil and old rags. Ignited the curtains, then, because the house had been closed up, self extinguished the flame. Alot of smoke damage, a little heat damamge, and really weird to investigate.


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## That Inspector Guy (Sep 4, 2010)

Inspector 102 said:
			
		

> Did have a case of spontaneous combustion with linseed oil and old rags.


The cause of one of the largest fires in a high-rise building in modern history was determined to be exactly this. One Meridian Plaza, Philadelphia, Pa. February 23, 1991. Cost an untold hundreds of millions of dollars (after the cost of the fire, the demolition, the disposal of hazardous waste and the lawsuits of course) plus the lives of three Philadelphia Firefighters. All because some painter was too lazy to dispose of the rags properly.


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## That Inspector Guy (Sep 4, 2010)

Inspector 102 said:
			
		

> Did have a case of spontaneous combustion with linseed oil and old rags.


The cause of one of the largest fires in a high-rise building in modern history was determined to be exactly this. One Meridian Plaza, Philadelphia, Pa. February 23, 1991. Cost an untold hundreds of millions of dollars (after the cost of the fire, the demolition, the disposal of hazardous waste and the lawsuits of course) plus the lives of three Philadelphia Firefighters. All because some painter was too lazy to dispose of the rags properly.


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## jim baird (Sep 7, 2010)

Makes me worry about my compost pile now, which does get a little dry depending on the weather.  Luckily is 100 ft from the house.


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