Fire broke out in the black earth spread on the flower-bed in front of the Chateauguay Professional Training Centre on Brisebois Blvd. at around noon last Wednesday.
The firemen extinguished it quickly. There was no building in the proximity and the damages were minor, but the incident reminds one that black earth can burn in very dry temperatures, as has been the case these days.
According to an officer of the Chateauguay Fire Protection Service who was at the site, cigarettes were not the cause of the blaze. “That would be astonishing; smoke appeared in four places when we arrived,” he reported. The ground concerned being bathed in sunlight, a prolonged exposure to its scorching rays was able to start the combustion process in the very dry black soil. The firemen recommend that this organic matter be kept humid. The earth was used as a landscape arrangement just like mulch.
In May, the firemen notably battled two mulch fires in Chateauguay and Mercier. In the latter case, the blaze spread to the house which was completely destroyed.
Black earth, mulch and other similar materials are composed of peat, moss and combustible wood chips, and they contain inflammable chemical fertilizer, the fire department warns.
(Translation Dan Rosenburg)
