Stain-soaked bark ignites fire outside Santa Rosa home

Landscaping bark that had absorbed runoff wood stain from a nearby fence spontaneously combusted outside a Santa Rosa house on Saturday afternoon, igniting a fire that was extinguished quickly.

A team of 22 firefighters put out the flames in 24 minutes, Santa Rosa Fire Battalion Chief Keith Flood said.

The fire, reported at 4:18 p.m. on Holly Park Way, near Coffey Park, had reached a natural gas meter and briefly started feeding off the fuel before the flow of gas was turned off, Flood said.

Low humidity and the sun’s rays apparently combined to heat excess oily stain on the chips enough to spark the flames, which burned the newly stained fence and a side of the two-story house, reaching the second story above the garage, Flood said.

Five engines and a ladder truck kept the flames from burning into any of the living area of the home, he said. No residents were home at the time.

Flood said homeowners need to exercise caution when using combustible liquids like stains. He said the homeowner in this case did nothing improper.

Similar fires are caused when someone uses a rag to apply stain and then balls it up or stores it in a closed container. Overspraying, dripping or spilling stain into porous materials also can present a fire hazard, Flood said.