Odd fire

[begreen]

I have heard of some odd causes for an accidental blaze and I've heard of window reflection warping the neighbor's vinyl siding, but a Nutella jar? What next?

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/02/25/world/europe/ap-eu-odd-britain-nutella-jar-fire.html

 

[Holzstapel]

I think Nutella is only sold in plastic jars over here so perhaps we are safe?

 

[Grisu]

I have heard of some odd causes for an accidental blaze and I've heard of window reflection warping the neighbor's vinyl siding, but a Nutella jar? What next?

A dog's water bowl? http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...start-a-fire-test-shows-idea-does-hold-water/

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Maybe 15 years ago my buddy was working on his prized 79 firebird. The chrome air filter cover ignited the insulation on the underside of the hood.

He was right there to witness it and snuff it, had he been inside getting something it would have been one hell of a mystery as to why the car was in flames.

 

[begreen]

Moral of the story, keep refractive and reflective items off of sunny windowsills.
http://m.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/11813206.Pet_dog_dies_after_Nutella_jar_causes_house_fire/

Here's another odd one. Watch those batteries you dispose.
https://www.ctsweep.com/blog/top-sweep-stories/two-little-known-causes-of-house-fires/

 

[saskwoodburner]

Years ago a doozy of a storm rolled through, crazy thunder/lightning and hail, knocked out a few windows on the shack. Dad had some junk plexiglass stuff from a display case?? of sorts he said I could try use. Anyways, it had a mirror like surface on one side but it cut easy enough so I installed it in place of the busted old panes.

One day not long after, I was out behind the trailer to go sight in a rifle or something, and noticed in the sun that the plexiglass was reflecting a beam down on the ground into the grass. I put my hand there, and while I doubt it would have made a fire, it was uncomfortable to the back of my hand. Believing in Murphys law, they were scuffed and got a shot of white spray paint.

So yes, anything is possible.

 

[johninwi]

A buddy had a cheap mirror in his pole barn, move it outside and leaned it agienst something or other and walked back into the barn, it bowed some and caught the sun, sent a beam focused on the pole barn door frame and in a few seconds it started smoking, had he not been walking back inside it may have been worse. He moved the mirror and brought the daughter over, he burned her name in a piece of wood with the sun.
From the stories here i guess it's more common than i thought.

 

[Whitepine2]

Here's another odd one. Watch those batteries you dispose.
https://www.ctsweep.com/blog/top-sweep-stories/two-little-known-causes-of-house-fires/[/quote]
Also 9V batteries can start a fire if kept in one pocket and contact is made
between the posts. They can be used to start a fire with steel wool try
it out fluff the wool and make contact with posts and instant fire a good
thing to know if you need to start a fire and no matches.

 

[velvetfoot]

An ex-wife had a small crystal ball on a stand in velvet. I passed by it one day and the velvet was smoking!
PS: Has nothing to do with my nic.

 

[firefighterjake]

Strangest one I heard of was from a fire investigator ... foil lined potato chip bag in a car windshield on a hot day caught the car on fire.

Runner up that I saw ... dog trying to get one of his dog treats above the stove stood up (he was a German Shepherd) on his hind legs and turned the stove on ... apparently there were combustibles on the stove top that caught on fire. That fire was also the first time I saw dog CPR being done and the first and only time the ambulance transported animals to a nearby vet.

Probably doesn't need to be said ... but I'll say it anyway ... folks should not worry so much about these unusual fire causes but rather focus on preventing the leading causes ... cooking, heating and electrical.

 

[Whitepine2]

Strangest one I heard of was from a fire investigator ... foil lined potato chip bag in a car windshield on a hot day caught the car on fire.
Nothing strange about the chips,they are cooked in oil and spontaneous
combustion as you well know will start a fire.One of the farms here fed
potato chips to his cows and the truckloads of chips would always start
a fire. Just like oily rags.

 

[Shari]

Kids had a pizza late one night. They set the cardboard circle on top of the toaster when they were done with it. The toaster was sitting on the counter, under the upper kitchen cabinets.

Next morning, one of the kids grabbed an orange out of its bag and dashed off to school.

The bag of oranges fell over, depressed the lever on the toaster which started the pizza cardboard on fire.

I just happened to walk into the kitchen as flames began licking the underside of our kitchen cabinets.....................

Our toaster is now only plugged in when you are going to use it and it is unplugged as soon as you are done with it.

 

[peakbagger]

A coworker had a car with black stripe on the headliner. His daughter had left a makeup mirror on the seat. The sun hit the mirror and as it had a magnifying feature, the sun concentrated and melted the headliner over about an hour.

 

[valuman]

Hmmm... it sounds like the sun could be a good source of energy.

 

[begreen]

Hmmm... it sounds like the sun could be a good source of energy.

Enough to run a planet for several billion years.