The Carbon County chronicle. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1924, 1924-10-29
TELLS OVER RADIO
MANY FIRE CAUSES

cause, said Prof. H. V. Carpenter,
dean of the engineering college at
the State College Of Washington, talk
ing over radio X F A E the other
night about Spontaneous Combus-
ton as a cause Of fires"
Naturally everyone is surprised
that f:re-should occur, and wishes
to know what happened to start it,
he continued. "0f course most fires
are due TO the worst sort Of careless
ness, that which comes about by let
Aing conditions get little worse every
day until finally the fire demon finds
his chance. This earelessness may be-
in handling partially extinguished
matches, cigarettes. etc, or 1t may be
in allowing rub "a to collect little
closer to the fire each day until the
trouble comes.
In most cases such as these, there
Is a good suspicion, at least ON the
part of the guilty one, as to the cause
Many fires occur, however. in places
where the ordinary careless causes
are impossible and the fire is known
to be due to no direct human action.
These must be explained in some way
which includes the possibility of a
slowly developing cause Of fire which
can start the fire many hours or days
after anyone has been near.
Zone of the most mystifying exam
Piles of this sort of fire is the too COM
mon burning of new building just,
a few days before its completion. An.
other which we are usually sure is due
to self-deyeloping cause. is the igni-
tion Of pile of coal or hay with the
trouble starting In the inside of the.
pile where no one could have lighted
t. These three are the most common
Of the group Of fires caused by
spontaneous combustion. This term is
used commonly, though not always
truthfully, to account for fires, and is
one that should be better understood.
why does the house burn down?
Why, spontaneous combustion, Of
course. What did IL start in? Oily
rags, of course. These have been heard
everywhere, but not always under.
stood. Just why should little oil on
a rag start fire when the same oil
has been spread freely all over the.
building with no thought of such an
effect, and is being kept in almost
every house, Ia bottle or tin contain
en-, with no danger7 Or why should
a coal pile begin to burn while many
other piles of the same coal are stored.
n every possible place where fire
would be disastrous, with little dang.
or?
"A simple example OF the same &C.
ton IN found frequently, when small
boy Tor someone who should know bet
teri takes an incandescent lamp to-
bed with him as foot warmer The
lamp, imbedded In the heavy cover
/ titk - AeSa ana tthFf teA 4uQdt AHai(E
throw off the heat which comes from
its filament, and so gets hotter and
hotter, until the bedding bursts into
flame. In the same way the bunch Of
oily rags left in new house by the
painter generates heat which cannot
get away and 30 runs the temperature
up TO the flash point. The coal, also.
when piled too deep, does not have ~
chance TO get rid Of the rather small
amount of heat that is generated In it,
and so gets up rising temperature
until fire results.
This slow generation of heat which
occurs in such cases is almost always
due to oxidation, that is, the combina-
ton Of the oxygen of the air with the
substance, such as the linseed oil. This
oil oxidizes rapidly as compared with
other oils, as Is shown by the way it.
hardens when used in paint. Oxida-.
ton Is always accompanied by release
or generation OF heat, just as in the
xluation OF burning Of wood in a.
fire.
When the material is cold the ac--
ton takes place slowly, and so the
heat IL formed slowly, and in ordinary,
circumstances the heat gets away east.
ly enough so that it does not cause.
any serious rise in temperature. But
when the material is protected from
loss Of heat, the trouble starts. 1t is
interesting to note that oyerheating-
may be prevented by having lots of
air present so that it carries away
the heat, or by preventing the air.
from getting into the material fast
enough to keep up the oxidzing-.
This can be seen in the fact that coal
can be kept from giving trouble eth
er by shaslow piles, as is usually DONE.
er by shallow piles, as is usually done
deep pile SO the air supply Is cut off,.
Just SO in the case of the rags with
oil on them. The rags do their part
of keeping the heat from getting away
and SO allowing the temperature to-
reach the danger mark.