Mulch fires concern officials

As more smokers take their cigarettes outside, sparks fly in the landscaping close to homes.

By: Charlie Olsen
   Philomena Pinheiro, 56, was in her apartment on March 27 when she smelled smoke wafting into her Wildflower Lane apartment. When she looked outside her window, a 4-square-foot patch of mulch — including three bushes — was on fire.
   Another Hillsborough resident, 58-year-old Sherry Scarlet spotted a brush fire on James Shamro’s property across from her residence on Montgomery Avenue a week earlier — by the time firefighters had extinguished it, the fire claimed 330 square feet.
   Both fires were accidentally started by cigarettes that were disposed of improperly, according to Fire Inspector John Yanko,
   Chief Fire Marshal Christopher Weniger said mulch and small brush fires started by cigarettes are a growing issue in Hillsborough.
   "It’s becoming a problem," said Mr. Weniger. "In the past four or five years there have been a dozen or 10 fires that have burned houses to the ground."
   Buildings with mulch beds directly adjacent to either the building itself or a deck are vulnerable to what Mr. Weniger calls a "triple whammy": The fire moves quickly up the vertical surface of the building and gains significant headway before the smoke detectors are triggered. Such fires can also block the most viable exits from the house, potentially trapping people inside.
   Still-lit cigarettes are a danger even for nonsmokers — Ms. Pinheiro mentioned in the police report that neither she nor any of her neighbors were smokers.
   "If you have mulch along a sidewalk and someone tosses a cigarette as they walk by you may not even know there is a fire," Mr. Weniger said. "This happens a lot at big parties when people stepping out for a cigarette just throw it wherever when they’re done."
   If the proper receptacles for disposing of cigarettes are unavailable, Mr. Weniger recommends that smokers stamp out the cigarette on a hard surface — such as blacktop — and throw it away when they are sure it has been extinguished.
   Nonsmokers and smokers alike can protect themselves from the dry season and the fire risk of the new indoor smoking ban — as smokers take their habit outside — by keeping mulch away from their house and deck, he said.