Texas Weather Hazard: Heat Causes Tortilla Chip Fires

Austin, Texas firefighters battling a tortilla chip fire at a factory. A
heat wave set off the fires

Texas is certainly a hotbed of weather risks.

It's a land of epic floods, like Hurricane Harvey last year. It's a place the experiences horrible droughts. Dust storms. Destructive tornadoes. Hail the size of canned hams, as David Letterman would put it. 

And big heat waves. Not to mention tortilla chip fires. Wait, what?

It was so hot in Austin, Texas this past week that firefighters there dealt with a rash of tortilla chip waste fires.

According to CNN, a tortilla chip factory there was testing a new way to get rid of chip waste from the manufacturing process.  Says CNN:

"The company crushed the chips into a fine, powder like substance and put the powder into boxes that soaked up oil, Austin Fire Department division chief Palm Buck told CNN.

When the weather heated up, the chip dust heated up too -- and burst into flames. 'Certainly, tortilla chips was a new thing for us,' Buck said."

It definitely has been hot in Austin. Each of the past five days have been over 100 degrees, with a high temperature of 104 degrees reported Thursday and Friday. These are record high temperatures for the region.

Luckily, the boxes were stored outside the factory building, so the company can still keep cranking out tortilla chips in their undamaged building.

When firefighters arrived to put out the fires, new blazes kept breaking out in the boxes of tortilla chip powder. Firefighters were called to the scene three times last week, and stayed overnight one night to monitor the chip dust boxes. Finally, the fire department submerged the waste in water to prevent more fires.

Which is a good thing. The forecast for Austin calls for 100 degree temperatures through next Saturday, with a high of 107 degrees predicted for Monday.