Improperly discarded cigarette butts started a small brush fire Sunday afternoon at Wilderness Cove Apartments in Beaufort, a Fire Department spokesman said.
Tenants at the complex on Talbird Road had put out most of the fire before firefighters responded just before 2 p.m., Lt. Dan Byrne said.
Part of the building’s side melted during the small blaze, causing about $1,000 or less in damage, Byrne said.
Sunday’s incident provided another example of what happens when people step outside their residence or a business to smoke and throw their cigarette butts on the ground instead of putting them in a proper receptacle, Byrne said.
“We have a rash of these fires usually in the summertime,” Byrne said. “This is kind of late in the year.”
Earlier this year someone flicked a cigarette in the mulch near the side door of the Outback Steakhouse in Beaufort. The cigarette smoldered for a while before sparking a small fire inside the restaurant’s wall that firefighters had to extinguish.
To prevent similar incidents, the Beaufort Fire Department encourages all building owners to provide cigarette butt receptacles outside of any entrance or exit where people might step out to smoke, Byrne said.
source: http://www.islandpacket.com
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