"Here There Be Fire"

Ah, the smell of burning wood chips in the mid-day sun!

Earlier this afternoon, I heard a knock on my apartment door, and when I opened it, my downstairs neighbor informed me that the bark mulch just outside our front door (aka, the "flower bed" area) was on fire. When I got outside, sure enough, the sidewalk between our two buildings was thick with smoke, and small flames were lapping up the mulch.

After a few moments seeking out a suitable hose, we doused the flaming area (and the building wall right next to it) with water, soaked it thoroughly, and began to assess the cause. There was a melted football in the middle of the burned area, so that might have heated up under the hot sun and sparked the dry mulch. Or, perhaps someone had dropped a lit cigarette into the area and it went up (although, no one on this side of the building smokes).

Scott suggested another possiblity, though. Fresh bark mulch -- under a piercing hot sun -- is known to catch fire spontaneously. If *that's* the case, then the rest of this weekend should be fun. Tomorrow (Sunday), the temperature could hit 96 degrees, with high humidity, and a heat index near 100. Since the bark mulch was freshly placed as of a few weeks ago, that might be a bit of a fire hazard. I'll just have to keep a eye on it I suppose.

As far as I can recall, this was the first uncontrolled fire at my apartments since I moved in over five years ago. We're in luck, though, because had the fire spread to a larger area, there's a volunteer fire department right across the street.

Of course, now I smell like smoke. I think I'll go take a shower.

-Jon
posted by Jon at 1:16 PM  I   I  0 comments