HEATHER CASEY
Firehouse.com News

The combustion of a dirty diaper in a white plastic bag in 100 degree Texas heat caused $3,000 in damage to an Ennis apartment building Sunday evening, said Chief David Hopkins of the Ennis Fire Department.

The apartment is occupied by a mother, a four-year-old and an infant.

"[The mother] had set a soiled diaper in a white plastic bag and left it on a plastic chair on the patio," Hopkins said.

The patio is on the west side of the building, where it gets the hottest sun, and the diaper sat there for three days in direct sunlight with temperatures over 100 degrees. The chair was pushed up against the wooden wall of the apartment.

The matter in the diaper broke down and created methane, which caused the bag to expand, and the weather provided the right humidity and wind conditions for a fire to spread up the wooden wall, damaging the exteriors of two apartments, Hopkins said.

Other causes for the fire have been ruled out. There was nothing else on the patio, and there is a fence around it, Hopkins said.

The fire department responded to the blaze with two engines, an ambulance and 13 firefighters. There were no injuries.

Ennis is about 30 miles southeast of Dallas.