It’s so hot in Spain that manure self-ignited, sparking a 10,000-acre wildfire

Raging temperatures in Europe are causing havoc beyond belief.

Enter the Climate !!

In Spain, a wildfire was apparently "sparked" off by an exploding pile of manure !!

Authorities there suspect manure mis-management of all things.

MADRID — Firefighters in Spain are battling a major wildfire that probably started after a heap of manure self-ignited amid the intense European heat wave.

Around 10,000 acres of forest and other vegetation were affected by the blaze near Tarragona in the country’s northeast, according to the Catalan regional government.

Authorities said the fire likely began when an “improperly managed” pile of manure self-combusted in the heat, causing sparks.

It’s so hot in Spain that manure self-ignited, sparking a 10,000-acre wildfire

I always knew Europeans were full of crap.

a reply to: xuenchen

Phh, my poop combusts at room temperature.

Being raised on a farm , with dairy farms all around , I find that very hard to believe .
Sorry .
I am not a veterinarian , yet I know bullcrap when I see it.
Sounds like a piss-poor attempt at linking global warming

a reply to: xuenchen

I think the Ozone is thinner over Spain. You add that to the 115 degree air temp, and just a few minutes outside makes your skin hurt.. and eyes burn if you don't wear sunglasses.

Yeah that sounds strangely ludicrously like inept reporting
Animals in hotter countries don’t have self combustable manure, what do they feed Spanish animals, chlorine and brake fluid?

Lol.

Those temps are hot but not incredibly so.

It is a heat wave but in Australia we get those temperatures every single summer.

Oh, they broke a record. If I could trust the media and the Government reporting of temperatures I would believe it but I am not convinced.

Wait a few weeks and watch for the push on climate change and the new laws on heat waves.

P

Completely believable and nothing to do with the climate.

I worked in recycling for many years and our 'compost heaps' both green and food waste would regularly catch fire especially when there was a lot of woodchip in the mix. I would imagine a manure pile with a high straw/stubble content would equally readily catch fire. It starts as a smoulder but if the wind picks up or you disturb the pile giving it more oxygen it can start flaming.

All of Europe is suffering a drastic heat wave right now.
People were in the fountains of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Of course living in the American south this is just summer for me. We actually had a much cooler spring than normal.
The water in the bay is not warm enough for me to swim in yet.

This trend is just going to continue and increase so learn to like palm trees in London. LOL.

a reply to: watchitburn

Lay off the chili peppers lol.

a reply to: Gothmog

Being raised on a farm you should know first hand that a compost heap generates heat.

And that it requires you add water at regular intervals to prevent fires.

a reply to: johnb

Yup... The entire principal of a compost heap is soil created by heat.
But you know.... if it has anything to do with climate change the rabal will deny the sky is blue.

a reply to: Sillyolme

Re the comparison of heat - i hear that a lot but dry desert heat is very different to the high humid heat we get

I actually asked some of the guys who were out in the Gulf how it compared and they all said our 30C ish with humidity was MUCH more unpleasant and unbearable than 40+ in the desert dry heat.

I know I was sweating my knackers off yesterday afternoon working outside and it was 'only' 27/28C.

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: Gothmog

Being raised on a farm you should know first hand that a compost heap generates heat.

And that it requires you add water at regular intervals to prevent fires.

Only until it cools down to ambient temp.
Then it never really dries....
Not completely
Somebody lit one up out back and threw the match away...

I live in Valencia in Spain. 3 people died here yesterday due to heat. 1 poor lad was only 17 years old. Its f@ckin hot right now.

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: Gothmog

Being raised on a farm you should know first hand that a compost heap generates heat.

And that it requires you add water at regular intervals to prevent fires.

Not to mention that this ‘phenomenon’ occurred just this past February down under on Australian cattle farms. But hey, leave it to the ATS know-it-all to remind us that sh$t can’t happen, errr, it can.

Did I mention that it happened in Australia during its hottest summer ever recorded? Hey, sh$t like this happens, just ask our resident cow pie expert, err, non-expert.

The beauty of ignorance and self-importance. Dude/dudette has it in spades...they don’t even pile sh$t that high — surely, they’ll love that southern idiom, amirite?

With the spontaneous combustion temperature of methane at around 600 degrees C (1,112 degrees F) it seems like conditions would have to be just right for a pile of manure to ignite. A huge mulch pile of grass clippings we had got really hot one summer, but it never got close to that hot. But under the right conditions I suppose it it possible but IMO highly unlikely. I'd like some proof that manure and high temperature weather was the real cause, otherwise I'd think it was something else like a cigarette butt or other source that was to blame. A dew drop magnifying the sun would be more likely a source of combustion IMO.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

As I said our compost heaps at work would catch fire regularly until they were managed properly.

www.biocycle.net... ting-mulch-facilities/

Microbially generated heat – or what I call a “Biological Fire” – is the match that can lead to spontaneous combustion, a chemical fire with smoking embers, and at worst, flames. While surface fires nearly always are caused by human or external situations, spontaneous combustion is the result of failing to control the internal pile temperature. In both cases, the source of this energy is oxidation of organic matter, or volatile solids. Water, carbon dioxide, energy and other gases are given off, leaving a residue. In the case of the composting process, waste energy is generated as heat, and the residue is compost. For spontaneous combustion to occur, heat from both biological oxidation and chemical oxidation are needed. The biology of the process can bring the temperature up through 55°C to assure pathogen kill, but will continue to rise into the 70°C to 80°C range, where chemical oxidation takes over as the predominant energy source and biological death occurs. Unless immediate action reduces this temperature, a compost fire is very likely. In short, both biological and chemical oxidation – combined with retention of the heat in a pile – are required for spontaneous combustion.

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
With the spontaneous combustion temperature of methane at around 600 degrees C (1,112 degrees F) it seems like conditions would have to be just right for a pile of manure to ignite. A huge mulch pile of grass clippings we had got really hot one summer, but it never got close to that hot. But under the right conditions I suppose it it possible but IMO highly unlikely. I'd like some proof that manure and high temperature weather was the real cause, otherwise I'd think it was something else like a cigarette butt or other source that was to blame. A dew drop magnifying the sun would be more likely a source of combustion IMO.

It's not the methane that has to combust, it's the organic material in the manure. The available methane is just a catalyst.