A house fire is undergoing investigation to its cause when a rented property was destroyed in Cleethorpes, however the landlord says that fire fighters have told him that a cigarette not put out was to blame. The owner, Keith Newsum, is strongly urging all landlords to warn their tenants the dangers caused by carelessly throwing away their lighted cigarettes as he does not want anyone else seeing their property destroyed by careless smokers.
The Humberside Fire and Rescue Service has posted on their website the stark warning that more deaths in fires are caused by smoking than by any other action.
It states: “Tobacco is manufactured to stay alight, meaning it can remain smouldering and start a fire”.
“Cigarettes burn at 700ºC and contain chemicals which keep them alight.”
Advice is included on the website for smokers on how to keep safe such as, not smoking whilst feeling the effects of drinking, never smoke in bed because of the chance of setting fire to sheets.
Other safety measures that are listed include, all lighters and matches must be kept away from children and that cigarettes, cigars and pipes must never be left balanced on ashtrays as they could fall onto carpets.
The fire service’s group manager, Steve Topham, told the local newspaper that the fire started on the ground floor and then engulfed the rest of building, his force had acted quickly to ensure that eight people had been evacuated from the building.
Five neighbouring houses had also been evacuated to allow the firefighters to check that the smoke had not spread into their rooves’ voids.