I apologize for the extraordinarily awkward wording of the question; it definitely will take me a bit of explaining to adequately explain the question so that it is coherent.

During World War II, my grandmother's home town had turned into a fort for the Germans (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino) so as a result her and some of her family were able to move down and stay with relatives in Calabria for a while.

When my grandmother was 4 she was able to move back to Cassino as things were not so bad in terms of war there. What was left was destroyed and timber was scarce, which was essential for heat and cooking. As a result, she told me this stuff that was about 2 feet long, brown, thin like spaghetti was often used in substitution of wood. So one day some body had put too much at once and she was close to the fire and she was covered in 3rd degree burns and bed bound for a year, a majority of which without a doctor. To this day she is unaware of what exactly that stuff they found after WWII was. She even told me a story of a couple in their 60s who attempted to boil it in a pot as if it were spaghetti but to no effect.

So, simply put, what is this possibly explosive/flammable material coming in strands about 1-2ft long, brown and may have been left behind after WWII?

Thank you /r/AskHistorians!