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.
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We've had a fair amount of rain lately
By Ron Newman
Sat, 01/04/2025 - 2:13pm
as recently as New Year's Day. So how did this happen?
Mulch upon mulch upon mulch
By adamg
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:
Source.
So no jerk flicking a lit cigarette into some dry mulch required.
Landscaping mulch can smoulder however.
By Lee
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.
"Mulch"
By lbb
Mon, 01/06/2025 - 1:12pm
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.
Duh.
By Lee
Mon, 01/06/2025 - 2:43pm
.
Fermentation
By SwirlyGrrl
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.
Same thing can happen with
By dvg
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-
With this basically being a yearly thing
By Tim Mc.
Sun, 01/05/2025 - 5:06pm
I'm surprised that Landscape Express hasn't yet installed one of those firefighter entry key systems.
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