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Mulch fire brings all the firefighters to the yard on American Legion Highway

By adamg on Sat, 01/04/2025 - 10:14am

Mt. Mulchmore, the giant pile o' mulch at the Landscape Express yard at 425 American Legion Highway that periodically bursts into flames, burst into flames again last night, Live Boston News reports (with some mulch-fire suppression photos).

Firefighters had to cut open the gate to the place, since there's not much call for landscaping work at 10:30 p.m. and had to run an extension hose from a hydrant on American Legion. Also, they used a heat-sensing drone to find hot spots to dowse before they re-erupted into a full-fledged fire.

Past mulch fires.

Neighborhoods: 
Mattapan
Topics: 
Fire
Free tagging: 
American Legion Highway
Mulch


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Comments

By Ron Newman on Sat, 01/04/2025 - 2:13pm.

as recently as New Year's Day. So how did this happen?

By adamg on Sat, 01/04/2025 - 2:44pm.

Mulch degrades (thanks to bacteria?), in a process that generates heat. Not enough to spontaneously combust in, say, a thin layer spread for landscaping, but:

Some mulch fires may be due to spontaneous combustion, which typically happens when mulch is piled high and is allowed to remain for a long period of time. Primarily, this type of fire affects those who deal with large quantities of mulch such as commercial mulch producers, providers or landscape companies.

Source.

So no jerk flicking a lit cigarette into some dry mulch required.

By Lee on Sat, 01/04/2025 - 4:06pm.

A former neighbor had firefighters called to his yard more than once because of the smoke.

Mulch is vile stuff. Makes me gag when freshly laid and sometimes gives me headaches.

By lbb on Mon, 01/06/2025 - 1:12pm.

Mulch is vile stuff. Makes me gag when freshly laid and sometimes gives me headaches.

You're talking about chemically-enhanced landscaping mulch. "Mulch" is just matter, usually but not always organic, that is placed around plants to retain water and inhibit weed growth. Leaves, lawn clippings, wood chips, hay, straw, black plastic sheeting -- all are mulch.

By Lee on Mon, 01/06/2025 - 2:43pm.

.

By SwirlyGrrl on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 6:18pm.

This can happen because of rain. The processes that generate heat happen when mulch is damp enough for them to proceed.

The magic dampness number is 20 to 45% moistness.

By dvg on Sat, 01/04/2025 - 6:10pm.

Same thing can happen with hay if it is being balled or piled up with over 20% moisture. This would occasionally happen in the old days in dairy farms in Europe and America where hay was the cows' main food source for the winter. In most barns, like the bucolic red ones that are still doting rural new England, the livestock usually resided below the hay loft. This had devastating consequences when the hay above caught fire.

https://youtu.be/iIyjiB2pqF4?si=iN5-xG4p37kV_I9-

By Tim Mc. on Sun, 01/05/2025 - 5:06pm.

I'm surprised that Landscape Express hasn't yet installed one of those firefighter entry key systems.