A fire that destroyed four apartment units at the Parkway Plaza complex Saturday was caused by spontaneous ignition of a potted plant on a wood deck, Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi said.
The fire was called into the Carson City Fire Department at 5:48 p.m. Saturday and by the time firefighters arrived a heavy amount of smoke and flames covered four of the complex units on College Parkway near Carson Street. No injuries were reported, however small pets died in the blaze.
The plastic planter had potting soil in it that was dry and spontaneously ignited, which melted the plastic and caused the wood deck to ignite, Chief Giomi said.
"It is pretty rare. You don't see it often but it is akin to decomposition of any kind of organic material confined," he said. "It creates its own heat, which breaks down and when it gets hot enough it ignites and the next thing you know you have an apartment fire."
Spontaneous ignition sometimes happens with grass clippings either in bags or set in piles. There have been cases where piles of grass clippings have spontaneously ignited next to a home causing a structure fire. A ceramic pot with plant material would not have melted and caused rapid spread, he said.
"The message here is to be cognizant of what you have confined and compost piles fit into this category," he said. "Make sure they are not next to combustible items like wood siding that can ignite. And as far as plants go, as long as they are getting plenty of water, they won't ignite like this."