North Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»City Fire Department has a warning for smokers after dousing a balcony fire in Central Lonsdale.
The crew was called to deal with a small blaze burning at an apartment on the 100 block of West 16th Street, Saturday afternoon.
When they arrived, they found the fire burning in a planter box, said Fire Chief Greg Schalk
“It did extend a little bit but we were able to access the balcony fairly quickly and put the fire out,” he said. “There was minimal damage to the property and no extending damage to the other units or into the actual unit itself.”
The apartment’s residents weren’t home at the time, Schalk said.
As for the cause, Schalk said they will never know with certainty, however there was evidence that someone had been smoking on the balcony and cigarette butts have been known to smoulder in planter boxes for hours before setting them alight.
“That is a very common scenario for us,” he said. “At all times, really carefully discard any lit material appropriately.”
— Geezer Bunker (@GeezerBunker)
