Fayetteville, N.C.-Fayetteville fire department officials believe the accidental mixing of a high-nitrogen liquid fertilizer with a chlorine pool cleaner caused an explosion at a residence in a two-car attached garage late on April 8. The explosion blew off the garage doors but left the structure intact. There were no cars inside. “There wasn’t any other damage except what a good cleaning and paint job would fix up,” Dennis Jones, battalion commander, told Green Markets. Jones said the chemicals, which he described as a dry granular pool shock in one-pound packs used to eliminate algae, a liquid rose fertilizer, and a carburetor cleaner, had probably been stored for years with bowling balls and other items on plastic shelving. The shelving was melted in fire. He said it was difficult to determine from the burned pile which ignited first, but indications were some of the oil leaked into the pool cleaner. The chemicals were in packages and some of the half-gallon of fertilizer had spilled on the floor. Jones said there were no signs the contents had been tampered with and there was no propane tank or other combustibles in the area that could have contributed to the explosion. The residents were inside the house when they heard an explosion at about 10 p.m. and ran outside, where the garage doors were spread out in the driveway. “It was that loud and it shook the house,” he said. Someone else grabbed a water hose and put out a small fire that was burning inside the garage. Jones estimated damage at $3,000. He suggested that that such items should be stored in proper containers in an outside storage building.
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