COUDERSPORT — At 10:56 a.m. Monday, Coudersport Fire Department was dispatched to a small wildfire in the woods near the old Adelphia building on South West Street.

Coudersport Fire Chief Bryan Phelps told The Era Monday afternoon that the fire sparked when a pile of grass clippings spontaneously combusted, burning a small area roughly 15 by 15 feet in size.

Phelps said no one was injured and no structures were damaged in the blaze.

“There was no damage to anything or any property, just weeds,” he related, explaining the grass clippings had dried out and ignited in the hot sun.

Fortunately, Phelps said, the homeowners were in their backyard enjoying the Labor Day holiday when the fire started, and they were able to quickly call 911 before the fire spread very far.

“It was a slow burn, but the people were home and saw it and did the right thing by calling 911,” he said.

According to Phelps, spontaneous combustion of yard debris and compost piles is not uncommon, but there are steps homeowners can take to help prevent a fire or mitigate damage.

“A lot of people use compost piles, and it’s just good to watch those,” Phelps said. “Due to extreme weather, they can combust — make sure they are away from homes or other outbuildings so if they do ignite they cause more damage.”

According to gardening experts online, excessive temperatures in compost can cause a spontaneous combustion, but this is very rare even among over-heated compost piles. Properly aerated and moist compost piles present less of a danger, but even hot compost bins that are fairly enclosed will not catch fire if they are tumbled and kept moist.

Phelps said a total of eight firefighters were on scene approximately 15 minutes extinguishing the fire. They used their wildland service vehicle and doused the flames with high pressure unit on their patrol truck, he explained.