Arlington Residents: Don’t park on the leaves!

The Arlington Co. web site reminds us not to park on the leaves that line many of the streets. The site also refers to a Post article from last December about a fellow who parked in a pile of leaves and lost his car to flames just minutes later. I’ve seen this happen elsewhere as well. It’s not pretty to see a burning car with the owner running around screaming, unable to do anything as firefighters douse the heap of junk.

It’s been quite a number of years since I was behind the counter of a car parts store, but as I recall, your catalytic converter can reach temperatures up to 1000 degrees. Why, that’s even hotter than two rats in a wool sock. The converter is essentially a chemical reaction box that restricts the flow of exhaust gasses, causing major heat build-up and thus danger when parked in leaves, which apparently ignite at around 400 degrees.

I am pretty certain that other areas outside Arlington can benefit from this warning as well, but since it was on the Arlington web site I wasn’t sure…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Carl Weaver is a writer and brewer for RealHomebrew.com and has been making beer and wine for more than 20 years. He is also an avid photographer and writer and just finished his first book, about a trip he took to Thailand to live in Buddhist monasteries. He considers himself the last of the Renaissance men and the luckiest darned guy in the world. Follow him on Twitter.

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