road salt causes fires????

[Sigene]

In Madison Wisconsin yesterday I heard a news report that some telephone poles caught fire. The culprit was the road salt used as a de-icer.

I swear I didn’t make this up nor did I hear this from a friend of a friend. I heard it twice as part of a teaser for the nightly news. I can’t seem to find printed documents on the web about the phenomenom ( I don’t get the paper, so I don’t know more than I’ve told you)

I know a fair amount of chemistry, but I can’t figure out how road salt can cause fires. Can anyone help me out here? Have you ever heard of such a thing, and if so what’s the mechanism?

You don’t suppose the reporters got their facts wrong do you?:dubious:

[Q.E.D]

Salt is hygroscopic, that is, it absorbs water. Perhaps the salt dried out the poles making them more flammable? Just a WAG.

[Squink]

Or perhaps salty, conductive water worked its way into defective electrical insulation on the poles and caused a short circuit.

[Nametag]

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0NyZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NjM0NTQ4NCZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY=

Still, the cumulative effects of the wet winter could continue to take a toll on tired roofs and the battered utility infrastructure. Underground pipes are vulnerable to shifts in the softening ground. And the electricity system is vulnerable to "tracking’’ in which road salt corrodes the wires and sparks fires on utility poles, said Karen Johnson, a spokeswoman for Public Service Electric and Gas. One such fire Saturday morning caused massive delays on Route 208 in Fair Lawn.