Has anyone ever heard of pine straw around a house spontaneously bursting into flames? A man I know out in Winston, GA (Douglas County) had a fire start up in the beds surrounding his house on Friday evening. Neighbors alerted him in time to save the house - but he called the Arson investigators and they said it could have been "spontaneous combustion" in the pine straw around his foundation! He said they told him it is most likely when it has been wet (what with the rain we had all day Friday!) Now I know compost can get pretty warm, but has anyone ever had their compost pile - or their pinestraw beds - just up and catch fire? (Personally - it seems more likely that someone started a fire in their fireplace for a cozy winter's evening at home and an ember was carried by the wind and settled on his pine straw, resulting in the blaze!) He said the flames were 3 to 4 feet high at one point!

How deep would his pine straw have to be to generate enough heat to combust? Anyone ever heard of this?