By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
A discarded cigarette butt is suspected to be the cause of a fire that damaged the second-floor apartment at 1580 Brunswick Pike shortly after noon on Monday, according to the Lawrence Township Fire Marshal’s Office.
One of the two occupants of the apartment had gone outside onto the landing to smoke a cigarette, and thought she had tossed the cigarette butt into a metal container next to the door to the apartment, said Fire Marshal Dale Robbins.
The discarded cigarette butt, which she thought had been put out, is believed to have touched off the fire, Mr. Robbins said. The siding on the house began to burn and the fire began to climb the wall. Police were notified of the fire at 12:07 p.m., and the first firefighters arrived at 12:10 p.m. It was declared under control at 12:33 p.m.
Firefighters had to cut the rear wall on the exterior of the building to check for hidden fire, Mr. Robbins said. They also ripped out the plaster on the wall inside the building to check for hidden fire. The windows were removed to provide ventilation for the apartment.
Firefighters from the Lawrenceville, Lawrence Road and Slackwood volunteer fire companies responded. Firefighters from Hamilton Fire Co. Ladder 14 and the Prospect Heights Volunteer Fire Co. also responded, along with the rapid intervention team from the Pennington Road Fire Co.
