DENVER — Firefighters have determined that spontaneous combustion caused a fire in the middle of the night at a Denver apartment.
According to an incident report, firefighters were called to the Garden Court Apartments in the 1100 block of North Syracuse Street at around 1:40 a.m. on July 12.
The fire was in a planter box on the deck of the apartment. It only caused minor damage to the deck.
Firefighters say the peat moss in the planter box spontaneously combusted.
According to the website gardenguides.com, the process of organic material decaying creates heat. Add fuel and oxygen, and you have a fire.
Fires like this one are rare. Denver Fire Department spokesman Greg Pixley said, "they don't happen much, but they do happen."
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