Chemistry made us call the fire department

[Skycastlefish]

Last wednesday I was working late so my sister went by my place to feed my kitty and lab. She called me saying the ground next to the driveway was smoking, hot, and black! It had just rained so I thought maybe it was steam. She assured me the ground was black with stinky smoke spilling out of a crack in the soil. Well, long before I lived here there was an old oil tank located there. I had no choice but to have my sister call the fire department. They showed up and immediatly diagnosed the problem. Potting mix! They said it is extremely rare, but every once in a while, when conditions are right, peat will spontainiously ignite. My sis says they raked it out and only the top layers were black. Then they hosed down the area with more water. I had laid down a very light miracle grow potting mix last spring and planted a catapillar plant for my nephew. I knew for certain it could not have been hobby related because I haven't made a thing since early August and I have never had any chems anywhere near there. What kind of reaction do you guys think may have been occuring? I imagine nitrates were involved? Maybe the catalyst was catapillar shit Edited September 12, 2010 by Skycastlefish

[mike_au]

I think it is related to the decomposition of "stuff" and insulation preventing the heat from escaping.

 

I know that when they make the big hay bails they have to be careful that it is dry enough because a bit too much moisture in the middle of the bail can cause fires.

[jimbo]

yeah when I was about 16-17yrs old I used to work for a lawn mowing bloke and at the property where we dump the lawn clippings, there were massive piles of it and sometimes they would start to smoulder deep in the pile,even just a couple of feet down they would be steaming, I think compost heaps can also start fires also.

[Ralph]

This is usually due to the action of bacteria and not nitrates or anything essentially they go nuts and as you knwo with living things they create heat the temp goes up and up also under those condictions there is usually very little oxygen so methane rather than carbon dioxide is produced as a reaction product creating a lovely ticking time bomb

[Twotails]

yeah, we've had multipule fire of, MULCH spontanoiusly going up in flame a few weeks back. was in the news too. Edited September 13, 2010 by Twotails

[Peret]

Some of the peat fires around Moscow have been burning for years, and defy all efforts to put them out.

[OneEyeCharlie]

Some of the peat fires around Moscow have been burning for years, and defy all efforts to put them out.

 

so global warming was a Communist plot... I KNEW it! The Bear is playing possum.