Self-heating (often called spontaneous combustion) is a condition where internal heat generation from a material exceeds its capacity to dissipate the heat, resulting in increased temperature and ignition of the material.
A common type of self-heating involves agricultural products, such as hay or silage. Under certain storage conditions, hay will self-heat, ignite, and cause damage to buildings and property. During the fermenting process in a silo, heating of silage can get out of hand and a fire will ensue.
It should be noted that when the fire department arrived, no action was taken. Since other buildings were not in jeopardy, the fire department indicated that the fire would eventually burn itself out. Adding water to the contents in the silo would put the fire out temporarily but would eventually rekindle if the contents were not removed.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.