Spontaneous heating sparked Cedar Rapids garage fire

CEDAR RAPIDS – Officials said Sunday's scorching-hot temperatures played a role in a garage fire.

No one was hurt in the fire at 337 24th St. NW, which was reported around 10:20 p.m. The two-stall detached garage was damaged, along with a 1997 Toyota Corolla and bicycles inside.

Fire investigators determined the owner's grandson was staining wood in the garage Sunday afternoon. He left a pile of rags and towels used during the staining inside the garage, which apparently heated up inside the closed garage and started on fire, officials said.

Fire department spokesperson Greg Buelow said “we had high heat and humidity inside a garage and solvent-soaked rags that were discarded. Obviously, we think the heat and humidity sped the process along, but you've got to be careful.”

Firefighters put out the blaze before it spread to the nearby house.

Cedar Rapids reached a high temperature of 92 degrees Sunday, with heat indexes in the 100s, according to the National Weather Service.

One hardware store manager, Sue Snitker, said most paints and even some common household chemicals these days are water based and don't pose disposal dangers even in high heat. But anything made with a solvent like stains, strippers or paint thinners still carry a warning label about proper disposal and heat.

Snitker who manages the O'Donnell Ace Hardware Store at 3825 Center Point Rd. N.E., said it's probably been years since anyone even raised the question about solvent warning labels and proper disposal of rags and towels. And she said the most concern she hears involves indoor air.

“I know in the winter time we talk about staining in the house and things like that. But usually people think about the odor and breathing with it. They're not thinking about the other (fire) dangers associated with it,” Snitker said.

Firefighters say the proper technique for disposing of rags and towels used with solvents is to place them in a metal container with a lid filled with water.  Spontaneous combustion isn't weather dependent, but is much more likely to occur in hot humid conditions.

At least two Cedar Rapids restaurants in the last two years have also sustained fire damaged blamed on spontaneous combustion. In those cases, the problems involved cooking grease on aprons or towels either left too long in a dryer or removed improperly.

The most recent such

incident involved Tommy's West Restaurant, 393 Edgewood Rd. N.E. on July 9th.