Collingwood firefighters made quick work of couch pillows that caught fire early this morning.
Collingwood Fire Department was called to a St. Paul St. apartment at 1:02 a.m. on July 15 where they found careless smoking on a couch set pillows on fire.
The crew used a water extinguisher to put out the flames and left the pillows in the sink. The fire didn't spread any further than the pillows.
The building is a non-smoking residence, operated by Simcoe County Housing.
According to the Ontario Fire Marshal's office, smoking is one of the top causes of fatal home fires in Ontario.
The Fire Marshal offers the following safety tips to prevent smoking fires:
- be alert when smoking – you will not be alert if you are sleepy or have consumed alcohol, drugs or medicine that makes you drowsy
- never smoke in bed
- encourage smokers to smoke outside, including outside the garage
- check behind chair and sofa cushions for cigarette butts before going to bed if people have been smoking in your home
- use large, deep ashtrays that cannot be knocked over
- empty ashes into a metal container, not a garbage can, and keep it outside
- do not extinguish cigarettes in plant pots, which may contain a mixture of peat moss, shredded wood and bark that can easily ignite