Crime & Safety

Abandoned Cigarette Causes Structure Fire

An early-morning fire displaced four families living in a Bridgewater apartment complex.

An abandoned cigarette in a flower pot was the cause of an early-morning fire that left a four-apartment complex on East Main Street uninhabitable Wednesday.

Bridgewater Township Police Lt. Alfred Nicaretta said firefighters responded to a fire at 3:32 a.m. Wednesday at the complex. He said a resident in one of the apartments had been smoking on the back deck, and put a used cigarette in a flower pot, as was the resident's routine, around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

But this time, Nicaretta said, the cigarette caused the flower pot to smolder and the wood deck to catch on fire.

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"If you have other things in the pot, it could take that long for the fire to catch," he said. "It could smolder [for several hours]."

The fire, Nicaretta said, caused extensive damage to the roof of the complex, as well as to two apartments in the building. He said all residents were displaced, and the building has been deemed uninhabitable by the township's building inspector until repairs can be made.

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Aside from the damage to the building itself, Nicaretta said, there were no injuries to residents or firefighters in the fire, which took about two hours to put out and inspect.

Nicaretta said the fire has been deemed non-suspicious, and no charges will be filed in the incident.

"It was just an unfortunate accident," he said.


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