An accidental fire caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette swept through an apartment house at 144 North Union St in Burlington this morning. All nine occupants were asleep when the fire started in a couch on the back porch. The cigarette smoldered for several hours before fire broke out at 0742 hours. Flames quickly

A woman in the house next door smelled smoke, looked out the window and found an intense fire racing through the porch with flames reaching her own house. She called 911 while her husband ran downstairs to wake up the sleeping occupants of the house next door. He pounded on doors and windows, while the fire broke through the windows between the porch and the main house.

The sleeping occupants in the fire building awoke to the sound of glass breaking and heard their neighbor yelling for them to get out. They exited their bedrooms to find flames blowing in through the broken windows and across their living room ceiling. All of them narrowly escaped without injury.

The Burlington Fire Department arrived within four minutes. The first hose team stopped the fire from spreading to the house next door while other firefighters made entry and conducted an initial search and attacked the fire inside the building. A second alarm was transmitted almost immediately, bringing a total of 40 firefighters, five engines, two ambulances, and a tower ladder to the scene. The firefighters did an excellent job stopping this intense fire. One firefighter sustained minor injuries during the fire.

Their were working smoke detectors in the apartments, but since the fire was out on the porch, the detectors did not alarm until the fire broke through the windows.

Nine people lived in the three apartments, and have lost all of their belongings. Only one of them had renters insurance.

This fire could have been avoided had everyone completely exited the structure while smoking. Smoking is the leading cause of fire death in the United States. The presence of an exceptional amount of furnishings on this porch contributed to rapid fire growth.

The Burlington Fire Marshal's Office urges residents to remove old furnishings and other potential fuels from porches, to only smoke outside and we encourage all renters to purchase renters insurance. It is very inexpensive - most insurance companies sell it for around $100. per year - and it is well worth it.

While this fire was accidental and occured in an enclosed porch near the back of the house, numerous other fires have started in couches on open porches, and in some cases the smoker was a passerby. Plentiful fuel makes and attractive target for an arsonist. Residents are encouraged to lock up their belongings, remove excessive fuel from view, and to report suspicious activity to the police.