Ajax, Ont. homeowner flummoxed by flaming flowerpot

Nancy Niklas got up extra early last week before work and encountered an unusual sight on the back porch of her Ajax home.

Just after 5:30 a.m., Niklas saw smoke billowing from a flower pot where she was growing herbs.

“Who would expect that your pot starts flaming?” Niklas told Global News.

Niklas hastily poured her cup of coffee on the floral fire but says that didn’t work. So she went back inside, filled up a jug of water and came back three times to douse the last of the embers.

“People said that’s impossible, it couldn’t happen — but it did,” she said.

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Fire departments in the GTA have received reports of this kind of situation before. But Stephan Powell, district chief with Toronto Fire Services, says spontaneous fires aren’t typical.

“In 30 years, I’ve never seen it happen,” said Powell, explaining that fires in pots and planters are usually the result of cigarettes left burning.

Last week in Toronto, another fire in a flowerpot led to significant damage on a second floor building when the fire spread to a compost bin and was fueled by propane from a storage tank. No one was injured.

Hot, dry weather is also to blame for many grass fires, frequently along rail lines.

Powell says homeowners aren’t at serious risk but advises people to “keep planters watered and when flowers die, pull them out.”

Niklas is thankful she was home at the time when the flower pot fire began and wonders what might have happened if the fire had spread to the wooden deck attached to her home.