A Narrabri home has avoided damage after an intense blaze erupted in a pile of grass clippings on Tuesday morning.
A neighbour and two passers-by brought the fire under control moments before Fire and Rescue NSW crews arrived.
The fire is believed to have been started by spontaneous combustion shortly before 7am in hot, moist lawn clippings in a backyard compost bin.
It spread through nearby trees and burned several panels of a Colorbond fence, as well as threatening a neighbour’s timber shed.
Fire and Rescue station commander Shane Bradford said two men who were passing by came to the aid of a neighbour who was trying to put out the sparks.
They were armed with garden hoses.
“They did a pretty good job to knock it all down,” Mr Bradford said.
The first crew on scene ran a hose line in and blew through the thickness of the lawn clippings to make sure the fire was out.
The incident was initially reported as a house fire when another neighbour spotted flames burning high in the trees.
“It was a pretty fierce fire, it was well up into the trees so that’s why they thought the house was on fire,” Mr Bradford said.
The occupants of the Dewhurst Street house, Andrew Craddock and Narelle Egan, weren’t home at the time.
“A friend of mine called into the shop [to tell me],” Andrew said.
“He was out walking and saw it and let me know about it.”
He said he was lucky the neighbours spotted the fire, and was relieved it didn’t happen at night.
Grass clippings are notorious for spontaneous combustion.
“We’ve had quite a few calls with spontaneous combustion as far as lawn clippings are concerned, especially when they’re in Sulo bins and they get some moisture in them,”
Mr Bradford said.
He recommends residents discard them straight away.
“Don’t stockpile them, take them to the tip,” he said.
“Or if you’re using it for compost, spread it thin on the ground, because when you pile it up, that’s where we get issues.”
Spontaneous combustion is caused by heat and moisture getting into the clippings.