Officials: Potting soil ignited, caused porch fire

[CG6468]

Officials: Potting soil ignited, caused porch fire

By NEWS9 and Philip Stahl

WHEELING, W.Va. — Millions of bags of it are sold at home and garden stores nationwide, but firefighters said a porch fire was sparked by a common household product: potting soil.

Firefighters said a fire on Washington Avenue in Wheeling last month started because a potted plant became too hot, and the blaze caused much damage to the house's porch.

Though it is rare for potting soil to catch fire, officials said it can ignite with the right combination of high humidity, extreme heat and dry soil.

Wheeling Fire Department's assistant chief said the mixture of the soil, shredded bark, peat moss and Styrofoam balls can be flammable in those conditions.

Who knew?????

[obumazombie]

I've heard of compost pile spontaneous combustion

[CG6468]

Compost pile - yes. But potting soil?

[ExGeeEye]

Contains a lot of the same stuff.

[longview]

Well, good grief.

My vegetables could end up grilled before I'm ready for supper.

[JohnnyReb]

Sawdust piles and green hay...used to catch fire often. Me and daddy spent the fourth of July in 1958 pushing burning sawdust trying to put out a fire that the smoke from had caused several bad wrecks on the highway.

A very large hay barn burned here last week with the most likely cause being "green" hay.