December 25, 2008 - Careless Smoking Causes Apartment Fire in Stoner Hill Community

Four-plex apartment building sustained heavy fire

On Christmas Eve night at 9:11 p.m., the Shreveport Fire Department was dispatched to 129 East Jordan Street in the Stoner Hill Community for an apartment fire. Firefighters arrived to find heavy flames coming from the second floor window on the east side of the building. The four-plex apartment building sustained heavy fire and smoke damage as fire burned through the floor of the upstairs apartment to the downstairs apartment. It took six fire crews over an hour to extinguish the fire that had spread into the attic of the structure.

Once the firefighters arrived on scene, they surveyed the other apartments to evacuate the residents, but no one was home at the time of the fire. The fire originated in the home of Daniel Carter. During the post-fire interview with Investigator Chris Robinson, Carter admitted he had smoked cigarettes in a recliner in the living room before leaving his apartment two to three hours before the fire was discovered.

Robinson concluded through his investigation and evidence at the scene that that this fire was caused by careless smoking. “This fire originated on a chair in the southeast corner of the living room. A hole had burned through the floor around the chair. From the time the occupant left home to the time the fire was discovered is consistent with the time that a smoldering cigarette can ignite ordinary combustibles,” Robinson said.

“Careless smoking and improperly discarding smoking materials has caused two families to be homeless during this Holiday Season” said Assistant to the Fire Chief Fred Sanders.