Wet Charcoal, Part Deux??

If you are a fan of our web page, you may have run across our page The Myth About Storing Wet Charcoal. You see, every fire department web site seems to warn about storing wet charcoal, but there doesn't appear to be any information or theory that would support this notion that wet charcoal with spontaneously ignite. We have never had anyone provide us with an eyewitness report of this happening. Every news article about it seems to follow a familiar pattern: 1) House burns down, 2) Fire Department gets fire under control, 3) Fire Department investigates after the fire is out, 4) Fire Department says it was caused by wet charcoal. But, never anything like "I was standing there next to this wet bag of charcoal when it burst into flames."

We have also never had any fire official contact us to explain these warnings or provide any justification for them. We have never had any fire official contact us at all.

That is, until now. We have received an email from a Fire Marshal in Washington state who has provided us with a reference that claims a 50 pound bag of charcoal could spontaneously ignite. So, ever the curious investigators that we are, willing to spare no expense to get to the truth, we have ordered a used copy of Kirk's Fire Investigation from Amazon to see what this is all about.

So you can expect some sort of update to our web page in the next several weeks as we look into this new information. We doubt it will change our minds regarding the possibility that wet charcoal can spontaneously ignite. If it were happening as often as the media reports would have us believe, we should be able to recreate this spontaneous combustion ourselves. But we can't. We are considering offering a cash reward to anyone who can provide a step-by-step procedure for making 20 pounds or less of any brand of charcoal spontaneously ignite due to getting wet. Stay tuned....

- TNW