Goat cheese fire

[paulj]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europ...

Norway goat cheese fire closes tunnel

A road tunnel in Norway has been closed - by a lorry-load of burning cheese.

It was a load of Brunost, similar to the geitost we buy in the USA.

Police officer Viggo Berg said the high concentration of fat and sugar in the cheese made it burn "almost like petrol if it gets hot enough".

[paulj]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/01/23/170078967/when-spilled-food-makes-a-huge-mess-in-a-tunnel-or-on-a-road

When Spilled Food Makes A Huge Mess (In A Tunnel Or On A Road)

They mention:
Chobani Greek yogurt spill in NY
pancake syrup spill on I75
a Marmite crash in the UK
and of course the Boston molasses flood

photos
http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/no...

[Ruth Lafler]

I remember many, many years ago a truck spilled olive oil on the Bay Bridge. It was closed for hours, because oil is not only messy but dangerous! Plus, they couldn't just spray detergent and hose it off into the Bay.

[sunshine842]

I still remember the mess about 30 years ago in Tampa -- a milk truck and a beer truck collided in a major interchange-- beer and milk several inches deep on the road -- snarled traffic for most of the day.

Back to the article -- it said that the fumes kept firefighters from dealing with the fire for a couple of days.

(I'm still trying to figure out how a a damp, cool dairy product managed to ignite in the first place - that's not really a flammable material...*sustain* combustion, yes, but not easy to set off.)

[paulj]

Probably something mechanical on the truck overheated, for example the brakes. The fire from that then spread to the cargo.

[sunshine842]

the Time article here http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/23/g...

says that "the driver noticed that his cargo was on fire" -- and other articles around the web mention that he saw the fire in his trailer...

[Kontxesi]

Does food that's still alive count? I remember a road closure not long ago when a poultry truck wrecked. Don't remember if it was chickens or turkeys all over the road, but I'm sure it was a sight to see.

[INDIANRIVERFL]

Wonder if this would be classified as toxic waste?

[jspurr]

Spontaneous combustion.

[sunshine842]

wow. That had to be really, really pungent, too.

Too bad about the cheese, though.

(how, exactly, does one manage to ignite a truckload of cheese, I wonder?)

[Veggo]

A bad day.
Veggo