MEDINA – There’s been much debate on Facebook regarding a post where a user claims her neighbor's home caught fire due to spontaneous combustion.
Fortunately, the damage wasn’t too serious, and no one was hurt. But could black mulch really be the cause?
The post has been shared nearly 90,000 times and has over 11,000 comments, with many offering their opinion about what really happened.
We went Medina Fire Chief Bob Painter for answers.
“When they did the investigation, it seemed like it started from the mulch area,” said Painter.
While it started in the mulch, he didn’t say the mulch spontaneously combusted.
“The natural decomposing process generates heat. And if it’s the right moisture, the right heat, and it gets enough wind, it could self-combust,” he said.
Before you jump to conclusions, he added this statement, “I really can’t remember any that weren’t started by cigarette butts or they get mulch too close to electrical decorations and that catches it when it’s dried out.”
Mulch has the ability to spontaneously combust. This typically happens when it’s piled many feet high at manufacturing facilities. Workers rotate and move the move using bulldozers to prevent it from igniting in flames.
Painter says it’s much harder for this to happen at your home.
“If you do the normal 2-4 inches like they recommend, you should have no problems. If you start getting 6-8 inches deep, you could have some spontaneous combustion.”
Mulch CAN spontaneously combust. But that’s probably not the case in this situation.