This past January I cut and split some dead ash that the bark was falling off of while splitting. This past Wednesday I decided to use some of it to make a small fire out back. Started up famously and was burning nice. About a half an hour into it one of the splits that was roughly six inches (medium) exploded like it was a firecracker. It was very loud and threw coals over ten feet away (scared the wife pretty good). Thinking it was a fluke I kept the fire going. Withing fifteen minutes it happened again. I decided it was time to put it out so out came the hose. As I was putting it out it did it again (a total of three times). My question is what made this happen and what can I do to prevent it. Yes it is Ash. I am semi new to splitting my own wood (only about a year) so not sure what happened, but I grew up in the woods and know my forest and the woods within it. Any help would be appreciated.
