Obesity Rates Trigger Cremation Fires

We're turning into a bigger, fatter world, and soon crematorium's will go the way of airplane seats...wider. Cremations have increased ten-fold in recent years, and several crematoriums were built before the obesity epidemic when cremations were not as popular as they are now. Time to upgrade.

Cremations have gone awry and uncontrolled fires started by temperatures generated by the combustion of the high fat content of the obese dead.

News magazine Der Spiegel reported an incident at a crematorium in Hamelin earlier this year when the cremation of a 440-pound corpse led to flames shooting out of its 35-foot chimney and metal elements melting. The fire department estimated that temperatures in the chimney hit 1,100F (600C). Carl Schmidt, the crematorium's manager, attributed the blaze to "extreme heat due to the burning of a high amount of fat".

via German obesity rates trigger crematoria safety concerns - Telegraph.