New York Heat Makes Horse Manure Spontaneously Combust

How hot is it in upstate New York? So hot that horse manure is bursting into flames, the AP reports. The state Department of Environmental Conservation says it received multiple complaints July 5 about the smell and smoke emanating from a burning pile of horse manure at a property in the town of Throop, in the Finger Lakes region 20 miles west of Syracuse. The responding officer learned that the owners of a horse stable had been storing the manure in large piles that frequently spontaneously combusted in the excessive heat and dry conditions. DEC officials say a shift in the prevailing winds carried the odor of burning manure into the neighbors' windows. It took three local fire departments two hours to douse the burning manure. (More strange stuff stories.)