Loudoun County officials give tips on preventing landscape fires after spontaneous soil combustion causes $1.6M in fire damages to home

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. ( DC News Now ) — The Loudoun County Fire and Rescue (LCFR) is giving out tips on how to prevent fires that start in landscaping after the spontaneous combustion of potting soil started a large house fire on Saturday.

LCFR said these types of fires can spread quickly and go into shrubbery, leading up to walls and into homes or buildings.

“Spontaneous combustion can happen when a decomposing, organic material, such as mulch or potting soil, generates enough heat to ignite without an outside source,” LCFR Assistant Chief of Operations, James Williams, said in a news release. “As a result, a large or compacted area of these materials can create sufficient heat to spontaneously combust. It’s important to remember that in all cases, these fires are more likely to occur when the weather is hot, and it’s been dry for an extended period.”

To prevent these fires, LCFR is telling residents to follow these tips:

• Keep at least 18 inches between the edge of a mulch bed and flammable building materials, such as vinyl siding and wooden decks.
• Make sure landscaped mulch beds stay moist if possible.
• Hot and dry spells, along with windy conditions, allow mulch fires to start more readily.
• Ensure proper clearance of electric devices, such as lights, by following the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Use non-combustible materials such as river rock, pea gravel or crushed rock for the first 18 inches around the base of a building with combustible siding and around gas and electrical meters.
• Consider using brick or non-combustible exterior siding when building or renovating a structure.
• Use only approved receptacles to dispose of matches, cigarettes and cigars such as sturdy metal or ceramic containers filled with sand, located away from the structure.

A two-alarm house fire in Ashburn broke out Saturday night after potting soil under the deck spontaneously combusted.

It was estimated to cause around $1,697,000 in damages and also damaged two neighboring homes.

For more information and tips from LCFR on how to prevent fires, click here .

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