Cigarette Butt Causes Fire At Germantown Apartment Building

GERMANTOWN, MD — Cigarette butts that were put in a plastic bin are believed to the cause of a fire that started on a Germantown apartment balcony early Tuesday morning. Fire crews responded to a call about the fire around 3:45 a.m. — there were no injuries.

The residents of the apartment woke up when they heard the fire and attempted to fight it off before evacuating the building and calling 911, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Spokesman Pete Piringer. Two adults and one child are displaced, and the fire caused about $250,000 in damage, said Piringer in a tweet.

People should buy ashtrays for disposing of cigarettes instead of relying on plant holders and other containers, Piringer said. Potting soil is flammable and can cause a fire to start.