NOTICE OF INVESTIGATION
Date: June 12, 2016
Time: 3:19 p.m.
Location / Address: 424 East North Pointe Drive, Salisbury, Wicomico Co.
Type of Incident: Fire
Description of Structure / Property: Four story wood frame apartment building
Owner / Occupants: JMG Realty (Owner)
Injuries or Deaths: None
Estimated $ Loss: Structure: $2000.00 Contents: $0
Smoke Alarm Status: n/a
Fire Alarm / Sprinkler Status: Present, not activated
Arrests(s): None
Primary Responding Fire Department: Salisbury
# of Alarms: 1 # Of Firefighters: 20
Time to Control: 10 minutes
Discovered By: Occupant
Area of Origin: Exterior, flower bed
Preliminary Cause: Accidental, mulch fire
Additional Information:
6 comments:
How does mulch catch fire?
possible a cigarette
Mulch can spontaneously combust in hot humid weather if it is deep enough.
A med center in Lewes burnt to the ground because of a cigarette in the mulch.
Anonymous said...
Mulch can spontaneously combust in hot humid weather if it is deep enough.
June 13, 2016 at 2:45 PM
WRONG!!
The mulch catches fire due to the mulch being moist. Has nothing to do with it being deep.
The basic fire triangle = Heat, Fuel, and oxygen. A fire won't start if it is deep in mulch because there is no oxygen. A fire needs all three of these elements to burn. If one on the sides of the triangle is not there then there is no fire.
Back to the question. The mulch starts decomposing and decomposition creates heat. There is the first part of the triangle, the mulch is the fuel and the oxygen will be the third part. It may start on the top and then work itself "deep."
Anonymous said...
A med center in Lewes burnt to the ground because of a cigarette in the mulch.
June 13, 2016 at 3:55 PM
And that will happen if it is a wooden structure from the outside in and it can burn to the ground even if there is a sprinkler system.
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