The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1916-11-21
Blaze Is Usually Said To Be
Mysterious"
AVERAGE NUMBER 1852
Spontaneous Combustion is Common
In Cotton Goods Which Are Smear
ed With Either Animal or Vege-
table Fats
Bert B. Buckley, State Fire Marshal

Spontaneous combustion is the only
great fire danger about which books
have been written, and it is the only
one which few people know about.
Fires from this cause usually appear
in the newspapers as probably in
cendiary' or of mysterious origin"
What is known of spontaneous com
bustion, aside from that gained in
chemical laboratories, comes almost
entirely from fires which are noticed
when they are starting. They soon
destroy the stuff which causes them.
The average number of fires a year
from spontaneous combustion in Ohio
is 162. OF these more than half are
from grease on rags.
The Chemistry of Combustion
The chemistry of spontaneous COM
bustion is not hard to understand if
one knows how fire burns. Burning
is the same chemical process in the
rotting log, blazing shaving and ex-
ploding dynamite, the only difference
being in the time taken for the oxy-
gen of the air to unite with the carbon
of the wood. If they unite slowly, as
of iron or decaying potato, the heat
is borne away unnoticed; if they unite
fast enough to produce a heat that
will roast out and ignite burning gas
es, it makes flame; if so fast that
the expansion of water, in the form of
steam and the carbon dioxide which
are made by all combustion, causes
shock and noise, it is an explosion.
High Explosives
In high explosives wood fibre and
chemicals rich in oxygen are COM
bined so that the fibre, cellulose, can
be burned in closed space in which
there is no air. The expansion of gas
formed within the space can throw a
cannon ball or split a rock. The most
powerful explosive mixture is one con-
tanning two parts of hydrogen to one
part oxygen, that being the proper
ton necessary to form water by unit
ing chemically. The hottest fires make
the most water.
The taking fire of any material
comes from it's being heated so hot
that the hydrogen and carbon in it
begin to unite with the oxygen of the
air to form carbonic acid gas. This
gas, which is made up of water in va
por and carbon dioXide, is drawn up
the fiue by the current of heated air.
The carbon dioxide being slightly
heavier than air falls to furnish
breath for trees and plants, while the
watery vapor rises to form clouds and
return in rain. So, we get back the
product of the burning of our houses,
but after it is greatly cheapened in
value.
Spontaneous combustion, strictly
speaking, is the igniting of substance
from heat caused by chemical action
within itself, but the word is often
used in speaking of any burning which
happens without the touch of flame,
spark or live COAL
Greasy Rags
In the last 200 fires from spontan.
eous combustion reported to the state
| fire marshal fats or oils on cotton
fibres caused 1872. At fat when warm
ed is Oil; when smeared on anything
| 10, hn fof ta1lnu
butter and lard unless rancid, are less
| liable to cause spontaneous combus
ton than the vegetable oils, linseed
cottonseed, nut, castor bean and olive
/ None of these can take fire spontan
eously unless spread over large sur
| face of easily ignited material, as
when a cotton rag is wet with them
Then they take oxygen from the air
SO fast that the heat from the chem
ical union will, If 1t is not carried
away by movement OF air, rise to q
point at which the fibres of the rag
will frst char and then take fire. A
mop used in oiling floor will take
fire in few hours after being put in
q closet under the stair.
Linseed oil Is chargeable with tht
greatest number of burned buildings
Cotton rags, sawdust or scraps Of silh
wet with olive or cottonseed oil, may
take fire. These oils are likely to gel
into any pile of rubbish.
Closet Fires
Many fires start in closets from rag
bags, greasy overalls, and from cloths
used in oiling the floor. Seven fires
from the igniting of greasy clothing
in closets have happened in Ohio with
in two years. These fires would have
consumed the houses and been report
ed as of unknown origin had not some
one been near to notice the smoke
Many heavy losses on factories come
from fires started in their paint shops