Rocks Found At Trestles Beach Ignite In Woman's Pocket

Rocks Found At Trestles Beach Ignite In Woman's Pocket

www.10news.com

SAN ONOFRE, Calif. -- How rocks collected from a southern Orange County beach caught fire in the pocket of a San Clemente woman's cargo shorts, landing her in a hospital with third-degree burns, remained a mystery Thursday.

The 43-year old woman's children picked up the seven orange and green rocks on Saturday at San Onofre State Beach, which is popular with surfers and known locally as Trestles.


The rocks combusted and set the woman's shorts on fire and continued to burn the wood floor of her Avenida Estrella house, according Capt. Marc Stone of the Orange County Fire Authority.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Mod Edit: Review This Link: Breaking Alternative News Guidelines -- Copy the Exact Headline

Well it seems there is an endless supply of strangeness these days....??

Who would have ever thought that you needed to be concerned rocks you collected could possibly ignite in your pocket.Could munitions ignite without being triggered?

Has anyone heard of this before? I wondering if they were hot or even warm when they were picked up?

I know msn is masterful in sensationalism but this was a must read for me.

Does this mean that TPTB will start to regulate rock collections (:

www.10news.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by wutz4tom

That beach is right up against Camp Pendleton where they do military exercises on the beach, so it could be left over parts from illumination flares for nigh drills.

reply to post by jmdewey60


Yes I was wondering also if it couldnt have been minitions of some sort even.
Thank you

Has anyone heard of this before? I wondering if they were hot or even warm when they were picked up?

Oddly enough, yes...a National Geographic special investigating alleged spontaneous human combustion covered a case where sea shells a lady was collecting spontaneously ignited in her pocket:

Some alleged cases of SHC are cases of spontaneous combustion but they are explicable by natural means. For example, a chemical reaction on or in a person's clothing can result in spontaneous combustion. The National Geographic special, mentioned above, investigated a case of a woman whose clothes suddenly caught fire and burned the skin on her thigh. The most likely explanation is that she put a shell in her pocket that was covered in sodium from a fireworks show that had taken place on the beach where she had retrieved the shell. Later, she stuck a wet handkerchief in her pocket with the shell. The sodium may have reacted with the water, releasing hydrogen that self-ignited,* causing her burns. In any case, she did not burn from the inside, as is claimed happens to SHC victims.

(covered here at SkepDic)

Doesn't sound like this is quite a parallel case, but there are some similarities that likely tie it together well enough to find the explanation. Being that close to a military base could be involved, or there may have also been some fireworks there recently...coming in contact with moisture in her pants might have been enough to initially ignite and then perhaps even fire up the phosphorous?

reply to post by wutz4tom


Hi, i've heard of spontaneous combustion happening where cardboard was stacked up and had got damp which then created a rotting effect, much the same as compost gets hot when it's rotting down.
but for stones, pebbles im not sure.
Maybe they where flint and she had knocked them together to cause a spark, possibly?

Two of the rocks were found to contain phosphorous, which can burn like a road flare when ignited, but the other five were cross-contaminated while in the woman's pocket, according to ABC7.

The rocks were smooth and some were the size of a hamburger patty, while others were small enough to fit in a coffee cup, according to news reports.

"There is phosphorous that naturally occurs on the sand at the beach, but no one has ever heard of pants catching fire," Stone told the Orange County Register

It doesn't take too much to ignite phosphorus. The friction of the "rocks" inside the woman's pocket probably causes a spark igniting the phosphorus, and then caught her pants on fire. Nothing too mysterious or strange....but that had to be a frightening feeling.

Originally posted by isyeye

Two of the rocks were found to contain phosphorous, which can burn like a road flare when ignited, but the other five were cross-contaminated while in the woman's pocket, according to ABC7.

The rocks were smooth and some were the size of a hamburger patty, while others were small enough to fit in a coffee cup, according to news reports.

"There is phosphorous that naturally occurs on the sand at the beach, but no one has ever heard of pants catching fire," Stone told the Orange County Register

It doesn't take too much to ignite phosphorus. The friction of the "rocks" inside the woman's pocket probably causes a spark igniting the phosphorus, and then caught her pants on fire. Nothing too mysterious or strange....but that had to be a frightening feeling.

Phosphorus when it is under water is quite safe, i saw a physics teacher accidentally drop a piece after taking it from a jar of water, within 3-5 seconds of the air acting on it, it caught fire, exposure to air will have it burning fully in a very short space of time, it does not need a source of ignition in its purest form, oxygen lights it.

reply to post by The X


Very interesting..Thnx!

reply to post by The X


well that is CRAZY thanks for that information. i'd never heard of that before. i don't know what i would have thought if rocks in my shorts caught on fire. what a weird experience.

reply to post by The X

Phosphorus when it is under water is quite safe, i saw a physics teacher accidentally drop a piece after taking it from a jar of water, within 3-5 seconds of the air acting on it, it caught fire, exposure to air will have it burning fully in a very short space of time, it does not need a source of ignition in its purest form, oxygen lights it.

are you sure you're not thinking of potassium, and the teacher had it stored in a jar of oil? phosphorus will faintly glow when exposed to air, but i don't believe it can ignite. potassium on the other hand...breaks down water into hydrogen and oxygen while releasing heat, which then ignites the released gasses.

I remember a couple of years back some loose change in my pocket suddenly became red hot for no reason, I felt it getting suddenly hot against my leg and when I pulled it out quick it burnt my fingers. Still haven't found an explanation for that to this day.

Strange things huh.

Ive found stones that have had large amounts of sulfur trapped in them. Could be why they caught fire. Too much sun exposure heating the sulfur or other gases in the stones? just a thought

Third degree burns? Ouch. Her shorts must have gone right up. How could rocks cause somebody's shorts to burst into flames?

Maybe Moses witnessed an incident very similar to this and that's what he really meant when he spoke of the 'burning bush' lol.

Originally posted by Bob Sholtz
are you sure you're not thinking of potassium, and the teacher had it stored in a jar of oil? phosphorus will faintly glow when exposed to air, but i don't believe it can ignite. potassium on the other hand...breaks down water into hydrogen and oxygen while releasing heat, which then ignites the released gasses.

So does sodium... and it is an orange metal. Sodium will burst into flame when it gets damp but its not a hot flame. Back in chem class we soaked some tissues in a sodium compound... makes an interesting reaction when someone blows there nose in it

Originally posted by woogleuk
I remember a couple of years back some loose change in my pocket suddenly became red hot for no reason, I felt it getting suddenly hot against my leg and when I pulled it out quick it burnt my fingers. Still haven't found an explanation for that to this day.
Strange things huh.

Were you near a microwave tower?

reply to post by zorgon


hahaha, well thats pretty strange..So who was the test rat who first blew their nose in it

Thanks Everyone for your input...

Lesson Learned:-refrain from using your pockets.....Use someone elses...Kidding

reply to post by zorgon


No, I was sat at home, I don't think there is one nearby either.

I don't live to far from there. Maybe I'll go there, rock hunting. You never know when self igniting rocks may come in handy!

On the other hand, it's very close to San Onefre Nuclear Plant, the rocks might be radioactive....

Maybe I'll sit this one out after all.

(in walks james bond) "you know they call them hot pants for a reason"