Surveillance cameras at an Arlington, Texas elementary school captured playground equipment going up in flames last Thursday. The school district says spontaneous combustion ignited wood-fiber chips used as a surface at the playground. (Aug. 14)

http://video.aol.com/video/news-raw-video-playground-catches-fire/1956742



A firechief stated on the news yesterday that woodchips have the tendency to spontaneously combust at any moment. I hope that playgrounds all across the country that have woodchips, the cities will have them removed ASAP! Can you imagine if children had been on this playground????? :eek:

Geeezzzzz what was wrong with nice soft sandpits anyway??

Cats use them as litter boxes. :eek:

Oh nice. The playground at my school has woodchips! But our superintendant is a jerk and not interested in fixing anything. :rolleyes: So I'm 99.9% positive that they'll stay. I hate them too...what a terrible things to use. What happened to sand? When I was in school, we had sand and it was just fine.

My son played at a playground with woodchips and I tell ya, those things hurt your feet if you wear sandals or open-toed shoes. They also got stuck in my son's tennis shoes and he was crying because they were embedded in his socks and poking his feet.

My son played at a playground with woodchips and I tell ya, those things hurt your feet if you wear sandals or open-toed shoes. They also got stuck in my son's tennis shoes and he was crying because they were embedded in his socks and poking his feet.
OUCH...That kind of thing must be pretty traumatic for a 5 yr old!

There is a playground right near to where i live and its covered with that stuff! its awfull.

I think that it had something to do with the 105 degrees that day. It's been VERY hot here lately.

OUCH...That kind of thing must be pretty traumatic for a 5 yr old!
That stuff hurt my feet, I can imagine a child. And yes, my son was hurting. :eek:

Thank goodness school isn't in session there yet - and that it seems no one was hurt. My old elementary school had woodchips when I was a student and as far as I know, still has them. :eek: Scary.

The parks around here have a kind of compound made of shredded tires...resembles brick, but is nice and bouncy....unfortunately, its also rather flammable ( Though, it doesnt catch fire unless some stupid vandal lights the stuff )

When I was in school I remember the playground was covered with these thing.

I'm glad no one was hurt. We have woodchips on the playground at the school I work at and, like Irene said, those things are painful when they get stuck in your shoes. I don't know why schools bother with them. The school playground that I grew up with (And it wasn't long ago!) had nothing but sand and grass under the equipment and we were just fine. We also had a nice hot top area to play running games like Freeze Tag, Redlight/Greenlight and Cops & Robbers. We fell down and crashed into each other at times, but we got right back up and nobody got sued or fired. Now, I'm surprised they even let the kids play Hopscotch, swing or slide down the slides. I'm sure some idiot will get those banned in a few years :rolleyes:

Doesn't Laura (MIBabe03) live in Arlington? Holy ****... Scary stuff, that.

The playgrounds back in my hometown have never used woodchips, as far as I know. It's always been sand or pebbles.

I'm glad no one was hurt. We have woodchips on the playground at the school I work at and, like Irene said, those things are painful when they get stuck in your shoes. I don't know why schools bother with them. The school playground that I grew up with (And it wasn't long ago!) had nothing but sand and grass under the equipment and we were just fine. We also had a nice hot top area to play running games like Freeze Tag, Redlight/Greenlight and Cops & Robbers. We fell down and crashed into each other at times, but we got right back up and nobody got sued or fired. Now, I'm surprised they even let the kids play Hopscotch, swing or slide down the slides. I'm sure some idiot will get those banned in a few years :rolleyes:
Some of the parks here already took out the big slides and the non-safety swings years ago:mad:

:yeahthat I wonder if it had to do with the heat?

I can remember at least one elementary playground at an elementary I attended had woodchips. I don't remember ever hearing anything about the woodchips going up in flames. Of course that was years ago back in the 1980's. I bet some of the playground 'toys'/equipment we had would be considered unsafe by today's standards. At one elementary we had huge cement (barrel shaped) structures to play on, crawl through etc. We had tire swings, metal bars to flip on....
Tire swings were cool!

And we survived. Imagine that.

I'm glad no one was hurt. We have woodchips on the playground at the school I work at and, like Irene said, those things are painful when they get stuck in your shoes. I don't know why schools bother with them. The school playground that I grew up with (And it wasn't long ago!) had nothing but sand and grass under the equipment and we were just fine. We also had a nice hot top area to play running games like Freeze Tag, Redlight/Greenlight and Cops & Robbers. We fell down and crashed into each other at times, but we got right back up and nobody got sued or fired. Now, I'm surprised they even let the kids play Hopscotch, swing or slide down the slides. I'm sure some idiot will get those banned in a few years :rolleyes:
I know...the stuff that the kids at my school are not allowed to do on the playground...we did all that stuff and lived. We climbed trees, ran on pavement, played teatherball...

I know...the stuff that the kids at my school are not allowed to do on the playground...we did all that stuff and lived. We climbed trees, ran on pavement, played teatherball...
In the future, kids will be required to sit quietly in a well padded "safety cage", with a padded suit and helmet, while they stare at the immobilised safety swings and air filled low level slide...which they will never be allowed to ride. :rolleyes:

In the future, kids will be required to sit quietly in a well padded "safety cage", with a padded suit and helmet, while they stare at the immobilised safety swings and air filled low level slide...which they will never be allowed to ride. :rolleyes:
BUT! You see how many jolly jumpers there are at birthday parties? :crazy: :lol: Yeah, ok, take away the fun of parks, but throw kids in a jolly jumper right after they have eaten...:puke: or where they can land on each other as they fall or purposely jump on one another. :crazy:

BUT! You see how many jolly jumpers there are at birthday parties? :crazy: :lol: Yeah, ok, take away the fun of parks, but throw kids in a jolly jumper right after they have eaten...:puke: or where they can land on each other as they fall or purposely jump on one another. :crazy:
You have some weiiiiiiiiiiiird parties down there in Calif, Irene :eek: :lol:

You have some weiiiiiiiiiiiird parties down there in Calif, Irene :eek: :lol:
What can I say, jolly jumpers are the norm for a kids birthday party. I remember when we actually had GAMES, PINATA, PRIZES, ETC. :rolleyes: Nowadays it's "Throw your kids in the jumper for several hours." :lol:

:eek:

I remember seeing a report on this on Fox News, and there was video footage of a vehicle going forward to the playground and then backward. Could it have been a case of foul play?

that wouldnt surprise me

What can I say, jolly jumpers are the norm for a kids birthday party. I remember when we actually had GAMES, PINATA, PRIZES, ETC. :rolleyes: Nowadays it's "Throw your kids in the jumper for several hours." :lol:

When I was little, all my parents did for my birthday was invite my friends over for some pizza and games in the backyard followed by homemade cake. I see the kids now with their catered birthday parties at loud places called Fun Zone or TazerTag or whatever. Istead of a few good friends, the parents invite the child's whole class, their girl/boy schout troop, their dance class, their teammates, and any other casual acquaintance of the child because Lord forbid some kid should feel left out about not getting invited to the big bash :rolleyes: It's crazy.

Oh, and schools don't even want kids to celebrate their birthdays in class by bringing in treats for their classmates anymore :rolleyes: