'Spontaneous Combustion Of Tortilla Chips' Causes Factory Fire Twice
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AUSTIN, Texas (KDKA) -- Tortilla chips sparked a factory fire in Texas two times in less than a week.
The Austin Fire Department said they were "distressed" to be called out to a tortilla chip warehouse two times in four days to battle fires.
"Tortilla chips are big business around these parts. We take them seriously, as they are responsible for holding all manner of very important things—like queso, salsa, nachos, and various other sundry items that are critical to a Texan's everyday life and well-being," the fire department wrote on Facebook.
The cause of the fire turned out to be "spontaneous combustion of tortilla chips."
The fire department says the factory was trying a new way to handle waste from the chips. Multiple pallets of food waste apparently spontaneously combusted and large cardboard boxes of the same waste continued to catch fire while firefighters were on the scene.
Three days after the first fire, more boxes of the same food waste combusted.
Firefighters "drowned" all of the other crates of food waste that hadn't yet caught fire to eliminate the risk of spontaneous combustion.
The Austin Fire Department says the fires happened outside the building, so there were no serious damages.