WASHINGTON — Improperly discarded cigarettes are blamed for four accidental fires in Fairfax County, Virginia in a week.
The most recent fire early Sunday caused $173,000 in damage to a town house in the Lorton area, and an adjoining town house.
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue responded to the fire at 9510 Greencastle Lane at 12:20 a. m. Sunday and sent one of two people from the home to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
On Thursday, Feb. 19, a fire at a five-story garden apartment at 5589 Callcott Way, in the Alexandria section of the county caused $5,000 when smoking materials were discarded into a mulched area.
That fire extended from the mulched area into an interior common wall separating two apartments and displaced three people.
Another fire that did $5,000 in damage occurred Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 9005 Chickawane Court, a single-family home in the Alexandria area of the county. The smoking materials were discarded on a porch.
On Monday, Feb. 16, cigarettes discarded into a plastic flower container at a town house at 5237 Pleasure Cove Court in the Alexandria area caused $50,000 in damage. The fire displaced three adults and a dog, and sent one woman to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The fire department offers the following tips to prevent accidental fires when you smoke:
- Completely douse butts and ashes with water before throwing them away, as they can smolder and cause a fire.
- Never smoke in bed.
- Provide large, deep ashtrays with a center support for smokers. Check furniture for any dropped ashes before going to bed. Empty ashes into a fireproof container with water and sand.
- Keep smoking materials away from anything that can burn (i.e., mattresses, bedding, upholstered furniture, draperies, etc.).
- Never smoke in a home where oxygen is being used.
- If you smoke, choose fire-safe cigarettes. They are less likely to cause fires.
- To prevent a deadly cigarette fire, you must be alert. You won’t be if you are sleepy, have been drinking, or have taken medicine or other drugs.
- Keep matches and lighters up high, out of children’s sight and reach.
