> That doesn't explain it entirely. I'm with Gahalia's original question. Why would *water* explode a small, bubbling candlewax fire into a Nine Foot Mushroom Firecloud of Doom?
>
> I suppose that if it is a Class B fire, the part which is ignited (prior to the water-dumping) is the vapour-air bubble immediately above the wax. You'd think water in a sufficient quantity should *decrease* the overall heat-energy content (of the exothermic combustion reaction) and bring it closer to going out. Instead, the water vaporizes explosively and in fact seems to fuel the explosion. Huh?


I haven't read up on this, but here's a theory: the heat is enough to separate the oxygen and hydrogen in the water, but they immediately react with each other again, spreading the heat in said nine-foot-mushroom-of-fire, which would then be cooler than the actual oil fire.

Fuzzpilz