Throwing a cigarette out of your car's window when fire danger is high is an obvious no-no. But, just pulling over for a phone call could be enough to start a fire.
That's because your car's catalytic converter can reach temperatures of more than one thousand degrees when you're driving. If that hot surface collides with tall, dry grass — the grass can ignite in seconds.
There are other less well-known causes of wildfires: worn brakes and flat tires.
Metal-on-metal from worn brake pads or a wheel rim grinding on the pavement after a blowout can generate a significant number of sparks.
Think this sounds far fetched? It's happened before. Nearly four years ago, an El Paso County sheriff's deputy's vehicle sparked a fire in Security-Widefield near the Colorado Springs Airport. The deputy was responding to a call, drove into tall grass, and the car's catalytic converter ignited the fire.
That led to evacuations and a shelter in place at the Colorado Springs Airport. The fire burned more than 180 acres.
The key takeaway is that it doesn't take a deliberate action to start a destructive fire. A small spark from worn brakes, or a hot exhaust pipe, is all it takes when conditions are this dry and windy.
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