Here’s a reason to throw away your dead flowers. State Far Insurance Co. ruled that dead flowers in a plastic flower pot spontaneously combusted, sparking a house fire that did $20,000 in damages to a northeast Arkansas home, according to the Associated Press. “The fire was caused by self-heating through decomposition of organic materials contained within a plastic flowerpot,” the Aug. 25 letter from State Farm Insurance Co. to the owner said.

The homeowner Brian Duncan said the flowerpot was holding dead, decomposing flowers and potting soil that his wife planted over a year ago. “She had intended on repotting (the flowers),” Duncan told the Associated Press. But instead they sat on the porch, drying out and dying. Duncan said it was obvious that the fire started in the flower pot because there was a charred hole on the porch and the remnants had fallen to the ground several feet below. But the homeowner told the Associated Press he was still surprised when the results showed the fire started due to spontaneous combustion.

No one was hurt in the late-August blaze, but considerable damage was done to the home. Duncan’s father-in-law used a garden hose to squelch the flames before firefighters showed up to the scene. Duncan said some of the damages included ruined decking, burned vinyl siding, a broken window and damage to the air conditioning system. “The house was full of smoke,” he told the Associated Press.

A local fire marshal maintains that spontaneous combustion is very rare. “Spontaneous combustion is something where you have to have a lot of variables come together and it has to be just right,” Jason Wills told Jonesboro television station KAIT. “It’s something that does happen, but this is the first one in our area that I’m aware of.”

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