‘Is it going to take a funeral?’
Fire chief urges condo smokers to stop butting out in planters
Edmonton fire officials are warning residents to take responsibility for the “fire in your hand” after an improperly extinguished cigarette sparked a massive blaze in a west-end condominium Monday, forcing 400 people out of their homes.
Fire Chief Ken Block said such fires are “totally preventable.
“The concern, of course, is one of life safety, property safety and first-responder safety,” he told a news conference Thursday.
This year, 52 fires related to smokers’ materials have caused $11.5 million in damages.
In the last 10 years, more than 700 fires and seven deaths have been attributed to smokers’ materials, amounting to more than $50 million in damages.
“I don’t know why there’s such a lack of awareness,” Block said. “Is it going to take a funeral, a multiple fatality, at one of these events? It’s only a matter of time until that happens.”
The fire at the four-storey Park Place South Hamptons condo complex Monday was traced back to a cigarette in a planter pot.
Planting soil is often mixed with combustible materials such as Styrofoam, so when a cigarette is stubbed out in one, it causes the materials to smoulder and eventually break out in flames, said fire marshal Tom Karpa.
Monday’s fire caused an estimated $10 million in damages, but Daryl Brennan, chief of investigations with Edmonton Fire Rescue, said that number will likely rise once water damage is taken into account.
“You have a fire in your hand, ever be it small, and you should be responsible for what you’re doing with it,” Brennan said.
In the last 10 years, Edmonton has seen a residential construction boom, and as the city grows, the number of fires and the amount of damage they cause will likely increase, Block said.
It’s not just irresponsible smokers that concern Block, but also current construction methods, particularly the combustible siding on many buildings. Typically, a fire climbs up the exterior walls into a ventilated attic, burning the building from the outside in, he said.
Residentia l bu ild ings should be clad in non-combustible siding and have sprinkler systems, Block said.
“Industry is out there advocating for changes to make more money,” he said. “The fire service has got to be the voice of reason and the voice looking out for the public; that’s what this is all about.”