It's commonly used to line gardens and keep out weeds, but a woman on social media said mulch nearly destroyed her friend's house. But how, exactly, is that even possible?
Facebook user Paula Komm posted a picture showing the charred exterior of her friend's garage along with a warning. That post has since crossed the internet with 75,000 shares and 16,000 comments - some of them not buying her story.
So, can mulch, specifically black mulch, catch fire? Mulch fires are rare - that's something the experts we spoke with have confirmed - but they definitely can happen. 11Alive's Wes Peery said that spontaneous combustion of mulch is possible since the wood product creates heat as it decomposes. That heat can eventually cause a fire.
"It was probably really hot there," he said. "It likely hasn't rained for a while and the mulch is really dark so it absorbs more heat."
The big caveat, though, is that it usually takes massive piles of the stuff to create enough heat for that. So, a handful of mulch isn't necessarily equivalent to gunpowder. 11Alive has found no evidence that the "black mulch" mentioned in the post is any more flammable than the regular ground-covering in stores.
Union City Fire Battalion Chief Dennis Moore confirmed that mulch catching fire on its own is possible but he'd never personally put that kind of fire out himself. He added that conditions have to be perfect.
As for the case presented in Paula's own photo, there are some suspicious inconsistencies that indicate that the damage to her friend's home may actually have another cause.
Eagle-eyed Facebookers noticed that none of the plants on the photo are burned. Another user also noted that the electric cord running out of a charred outlet is actually clean on the bottom. The general consensus among them is that an electrical problem started the fire and caught the mulch on fire - not the other way around.
11Alive messaged the woman and she hasn't responded. However, our investigations confirmed that she is a real person in Ohio and that the photo doesn't appear to be manipulated.
In a general sense, the post does have a valid warning - at least regarding mulch in general. It can catch fire and cause damage if not carefully monitored.
