CWG Safety Brief - Spontaneous Combustion Fires:
Laundry, Cotton Towels and Cooking Oils/Cleaners
Loss Control Department
11201 Douglas Avenue • PO Box 1594 • Des Moines, IA 50306-1594 • (800) 235-2942 • (515) 473-3207
Spontaneous combustion of cloth kitchen towels (often laced with cooking oils or cleaning
solvents) have been the source of significant fire losses in restaurants that launder the towels
themselves. The fires often occur hours after the laundry is removed from the dryers and placed
in boxes, or piled on tables. Continental Western Group brings you this Safety Brief to assist you
in preventing a devastating fire in your operation.
Here is a statement by a local news station after a restaurant fire:
A chemical reaction touched off a fire at one of the oldest and most popular Italian restaurants in
Des Moines. Brian O’Keefe, of the Des Moines Fire Department, told News Channel 8….the fire
was caused by spontaneous ignition of rags with cooking oil residue located in the restaurant’s
laundry room.
O’Keefe said that workers were finished doing three loads of laundry at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday,
and the rags were left in a pile. A chemical reaction then sparked the blaze.
Similar instances have caused hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage in restaurants,
pubs, pizza parlors and laundries in recent years. The source, spontaneous combustion, is the
occurrence of a fire without application of an external heat source.
With any fire, there are three things necessary to support combustion: Fuel, heat, and an oxidizing
agent.
Oxidation is the combination of materials, such as cloth towels (fuel), with oxygen (air) that
produces a breakdown of the material. This oxidation process, also known as decay, creates its
own heat. Cotton, a natural fiber, seems to be more susceptible to spontaneous combustion than
most cloth as it starts to decay around 200°F. This oxidation process is accelerated when towels
have oil residues remaining after the wash cycle.
Once the dryer heat causes the cotton to reach 200°F, even if the heat from the dryer is removed,
the oxidation process may continue if the towels are tightly folded or stored in a confined area.
Because the towels are hot and moist and have no way to dissipate heat, the decaying process
continues until it reaches the ignition point and bursts into flames.
Since the laundering process is often one of the last things to be done before closing, and the
spontaneous combustion process occurs over time, the fires often will occur at night, hours after
the last employee has left the premises. There are a number of things that may also increase the
possibility of this type of fire occurring in your business. You may have oils, grease or cleaning
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solvents still imbedded in the towels, even after laundering. Due to lack of proper detergents,
low hot water settings, and faster wash and dry cycles, these oils may not be completely removed
during the normal wash process.
Here are a few tips to help prevent devastating fires caused from spontaneous combustion:
1. Consider using disposable paper towels instead of cotton towels. Soiled paper towels
should be removed from the building each night before closing.
2. If cloth towels are to be used, consider contracting an outside laundry service to clean all the
soiled towels.
3. Soiled cloth should be stored in a metal can with a lid until picked up by the laundry service
or laundered by staff.
If washing will be completed by staff, then:
1. Inform employees of the potential for spontaneous ignition fires, and steps to reduce the
potential of fire. Train employees to detect and report unfamiliar odors, fumes or color
variation of the cloth (a dark brown color could indicate the decaying process described
above)
2. Wash items with residues of oil, grease or cleaning solvents in the hottest water available and
use a heavy duty liquid laundry detergent. Residual detergents in laundered items can also
aid the combustion since detergents are oxidizers.
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Confirm that all dryers used have a cool down cycle (10 minutes is recommended) that is
long enough to properly lower the temperature of the dryer load. Be sure the person doing
the laundry does not bypass the cool down setting in an effort to speed up the laundry
process. Periodically check the temperature settings of each dryer.
Remove loads from the dryer promptly after the cool down cycle ends.
Allow enough time for heat to be released from the laundry before folding or bundling. If
the laundry is to sit for a period of time, be sure to use a mesh type basket (not boxes) to
allow for heat release. It is best to spread the laundry out to cool on a large table rather than
leaving piled. If the heat in the laundry remains or is increasing, or the laundry is changing
color to a shade of brown, this is a warning sign of potential spontaneous combustion and
the laundry should be removed from the building immediately.
Clean the lint screens after every load, washing the lint screen in warm, soapy water, if
fabric softener sheets are used regularly.
The exhaust ducts that lead from the dryer to the outside of the building should be
inspected and cleaned periodically to prevent a build up of lint.
Never store the towels in areas of increased heat such as furnace/boiler rooms, behind
dryers or near ovens, any area where the heat is greater than normal room temperature.
Install smoke detectors in areas where towels are stored. If you have an automatic sprinkler
system, store the laundered towels in an area with sprinkler coverage.
While we have mentioned these types of fires occurring after laundering, they can also occur
under other conditions. Don’t store oil, grease or solvent-soaked towels in high temperature
areas of the building prior to laundering, as this can also cause the same process of combustion to
occur.
Prevention through education can help to reduce the potential fires caused by spontaneous
combustion from crippling your business. Time spent to rebuild after a fire often means that your
business is shut down for a period of time, and your customers are not served during that time.
If you need further assistance with this or other safety topics, please contact your CWG Loss
Control Representative.
Continental Western Group, LLC and affiliated companies assume no liability in connection with your use or non-use of the information provided in this document
and do not guarantee that the information contained herein includes all possible risks or unusual circumstances that may occur in or to your business or that the
advice or recommendations contained herein comply with all federal, state or local laws or regulations. Any advice or recommendations made in this document
are intended to assist you in reducing risk of loss, thereby reducing the possibility that our companies will need to make a payment under an insurance policy.
These recommendations are not intended to substitute for any obligation that you or anyone else may have to survey, repair, or modify any property, equipment
or operations or to conduct safety programs. It is your legal responsibility to maintain safe premises, equipment and operations. This document provides general
information only, is not legal advice, and is not a statement of contract. Any statement regarding insurance coverage made herein is subject to all provisions and
exclusions of the entire insurance policy.
Copyright © 2013 Continental Western Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
2-5-2013