Austin Firefighters Deal With Exploding Tortilla Chips At Factory

AUSTIN, TX — An explosive development occurred in Austin last week somehow went under the radar. Threee words: Exploding tortilla chips.

Firefighters were called to a tortilla chip factory at 6110 Trade Center Drive last Wednesday amid reports of the spontaneous combustion of cases of food waste from the detritus of the chips, sparking a fire that set the factory ablaze.

As in kaboom. Pow.

Austin Fire Department crews have a largely thankless job, engaging in arduous work that rarely allows for humor. But in a Facebook post relating details of the fire, officials made allowances for gallows humor.

"Tortilla chips are big business around these parts," the fire department said. "We take them seriously, as they are responsible for holding all manner of very important things—like queso, salsa, nachos, and various other sundry items that are critical to a Texan's everyday life and well-being. So imagine how distressed we were to be called to a fire at a tortilla chip factory earlier this week."

Officials added a portion of the building's exterior, along with several crates of the tortilla waste, burned before the fire could be extinguished. Fire officials explained factory officials had been testing a new tactic in handling chip waste when the spontaneous combustion occurred.

"The factory in question was trying out a new way to handle the waste from the chips that, suffice it to say, didn’t work out so well," fire officials explained. "The fire was confined to the exterior of the building and to multiple pallets of food waste, but large cardboard boxes of the same waste continued to ignite while we were on scene!"

Clearly, the new method didn't work out. "Then, to add insult to injury, additional boxes of the same food waste spontaneously combusted just three days later," fire department officials said.

According to Organics Recycling Group, any operation dealing with organic wastes runs the danger of having explosive hazards which can occur from handling apparently safe organic wastes such as green and food waste. Composting needs air to break down these materials aerobically and all operators know that if the process goes anaerobic that bad smells are caused, officials explained.

But it's not the smell that's the danger. In addition to the offensive odor emanating from such waste is the production of methane, which is explosive. Normally, methane-suffused waste is out in the open air and the small amounts generated are able to dissipate without any problem, officials explained.

Sorry to throw this all at you tortilla-chips-and-queso-loving readers. But relax. Next time you're at a Mexican food restaurants and the precursor chips are placed at the table ahead of your entree, enjoy them with aplomb.

They won't explode in your face. We hope.

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