Jump to full article: St. Cloud (MN) Times, 2008-07-08
Author: Dave Aeikens
Intro: When Mike Post showed up Monday morning at the fire scene in East St. Cloud, he saw something that he thinks is becoming way too common.
The city's fire marshal saw cigarette butts overflowing from a plastic ice cream bucket of sand and water. A discarded butt caught fire, aided by the other butts, and burned until a fire was raging on a second-story balcony at 1323 Second St. NE.
"If they would not have been home today, it would have been a major fire. The fire was well on its way to intruding into the building, and it would not have gone out," Post said.
Monday's fire was the fourth since April, and third in the past 17 days, in which careless disposal of smoking materials was cited as the cause. . . .
The issue has not gone unnoticed by the people who own and manage the apartment units in St. Cloud.
"It is a problem," said Lisa Marvin, president of the Central Minnesota Multi-Housing Association. "Particularly, we see the problem with balconies and decks."
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