Cigarettes blamed for pair of apartment fires

The meaning of a message we’ve all heard — that smoking kills — has shifted recently after investigators determined a Sunday blaze at a three-building apartment complex, 3400 N.E. 66th Ave., was caused by a still-lit cigarette discarded on a balcony, the second such fire in 10 days.

Vancouver Fire Capt. Kevin Murray called it “pretty fortunate” that no one died after the first of two fires, on Sept. 3, swept through a building of the Autumn Chase Apartments, 11301 N.E. 7th St.

“All the stars lined up there,” Murray said.

Combined, the fires caused $1.5 million damage. But it’s not the monetary damage that’s causing unease.

Firefighters worry their luck will run out when Station 6 is closed and 18 positions in a department already below state and federal staffing standards are eliminated with the finalizing of the city’s next biennial budget.

“We’ve had injuries,” Jim Flaherty, a Vancouver Fire Department spokesman, said Thursday. “The math is one thing, the damage is one thing, peoples’ lives and possessions totally turned upside down, but the fact of the matter is we’re at risk of losing lives.

We’re going to be out of position, invariably, with one of these.”

Flaherty, though, says staffing is only one component of the problem.

“The endgame is personal responsibility by smokers,” he said. “When you live in apartment complexes, condominiums, row houses or what have you, your behavior directly impacts other peoples’ lives and their livelihoods. We’ve got to get a hold of this.”

Sunday’s fire at The Mountains, north of Fourth Plain Boulevard and just west of Andresen Road, started on an upstairs balcony, rapidly spread into the crawl space and then laterally along the underside of the roof, fire officials have said.

Flaherty said it was caused by “an improperly discarded cigarette.” He provided a new damage estimate, which was upgraded from $600,000 to $1 million.

In the fire 10 days earlier, three men rushed to save a 64-year-old woman whose Autumn Chase unit filled with flames from a fire that originated next door. That fire caused $500,000 damage.

Similar to Sunday’s fire, it was a cigarette on a balcony that sparked the blaze that tore through building H of the complex, located a couple blocks north of Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard.

The fire department suggests in a media release to dispose of cigarettes in a fire-safe container, like a metal trash can filled with sand. “One sure way to way to put out a cigarette,” according to the press release, “is to immerse it in water before putting it in a metal container.”

“It’s not an indictment on smoking,” Flaherty said. “What it is (though), is a safe practice issue. We’re hoping the best for the folks that were affected by this fire and the folks affected by Autumn Chase.”

Here are a few more smoking-related fire prevention tips passed on by the fire department:

o Make sure cigarettes are properly disposed of and out before returning indoors.

o Never drop cigarettes on the ground, in bark dust or flowerpots. Potting soil contains wood materials that can burn easily, sometimes smoldering for many hours.

o Do not smoke on or near upholstered furniture.

o Do not smoke in sleeping areas.

o Only smoke when you are alert and never while taking medication or drugs or drinking alcohol.

o Keep matches and lighters out of reach of children.

Bob Albrecht: 360-735-4522 or bob.albrecht@columbian.com.