Sometimes I leave equipment out of the shed or garage till it cools off, but normally not. Depends on if I'm totally finished, or if I've got more work to do.

 

Sometimes I leave equipment out of the shed or garage till it cools off, but normally not. Depends on if I'm totally finished, or if I've got more work to do.

Same. Usually I wash the mower when I'm done, especially if grass clippings are caked up on the underside of the deck.

 

I don't do anything special with my equipment. I do live in an area that is super prone to fires here in CA so I change some seasonal practices. During the dry summer months I avoid mowing when it's windy or on low humidity days equating to red flag warnings. I may miss some days and get off of schedule a bit but it potentially mitigates the probability of me creating an issue that can get out of hand real quick. Most of my summer mows are performed at sun up or at dusk. I also make sure I have adequate hose lengths ready to go if need be.

I also spend a good amount of time in the spring creating a fire barrier around the property by knocking down native grass and brush and raising the canopy of surrounding oaks.

 

Sounds like a very rare occurrence. I'm sure that leaving the mower outside for a few minutes to cool off before putting it in an enclosed or tight space would suffice.

 

I leave my tools outside of the garage/shed until I'm finished mowing/trimming/edging and use the blower to blow off any clippings. Only my mower is gas, other tools are electric, so it gets time to cool for 15 minutes.

 

Ally tools are in my shed which is detached from my home

 

Something I've always worried about with all the shop rags, gas, lubes, etc laying around in the corner of my garage. My usual routine is to mow, trim then blow. I usually will blow off my mower of all material before pulling her into the garage so it doesn't get all over the place in the garage.

 

Maintenance is probably the issue in this case. The motor could have been packed with grass and dust and severely overheated. I can't think of any other way a mower would just spontaneously combust...

What I have seen happen around here though, people have larger yards (5 acre +) and they let it get super over grown, and once the summer drought kicks in, they have a nasty brown field that finally pushes the owner to mow it. The mower deck will get covered in the super dry brush and grass, belts will start to slip on the blade pulleys due to the thick brush load... starts to smoke the rubber belts, which lights the dry grass compacted on the top of the deck. Thankfully in every case, the owner had a large water canteen (or beer) they were able to "save the day" with.

 

Coworker had a fire on top of the deck of his zero turn when a spindle bearing went bad and lit the dry grass.
He got it put out without any real damage to the mower let alone anything worse.
Point being while rare it cn happen.

 

Thats the nice thing about a reel mower. Its never going to burn your garage down. When I used a gas rotary, I would also hose off the underside of the deck to wash off any built up grass clippings, which eliminates most of the concern of fire.

 

Bottom of the deck would be the last of my concerns, plastered damp mess. Tufts that dry on top are of more concern.

 

I keep mine in a shed and blow it off after use