Posted on 04/07/2014 6:18:27 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — A firefighter says a cigarette tossed onto mulch may have caused a destructive fire at a popular wedding venue in Foxborough.
Deputy Fire Chief Steven Bagley tells The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/1q9bTxR ) that the fire at the Lakeview Pavilion on Saturday night then spread to the building.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesunion.com ...
When they said the other night that it started in mulch I figured that’s what it was——it’s happened before.
Sad-—it was a beautiful place.
.
satan
There’s a bunch of condos just off I-95 in Peabody and a couple years back “careless disposal of smoking materials” —in mulch—caused one to burn to the ground. One tenant was outside and had just paid her monthly bill only to find the one with her unit was engulfed in flames, and some pets died.
You can bet someone is going to try. Not the cigarette itself, but the company that made it. Preventing lawsuits over fires is said to be the rationale behind the inclusion of toxic fire retardant chemicals in cigarettes. If those chemicals don't do their job, a defective product lawsuit is certainly possible.
No, but they will relentlessly hound, persecute and identify the potential smokers and make them pay by damn.
If it turns out it was a joint, the makers of the mulch will be sued.
This happened to a supermarket near me.
A cigarette tossed in the landscaping mulch on the outside of the market burned it to the ground.
The supermarket eventually was rebuilt.
Only river stones for landscaping within 10 feet of the place now!
Oh My...I played many a wedding in that beautiful venue. (sigh)
“Preventing lawsuits over fires is said to be the rationale behind the inclusion of toxic fire retardant chemicals in cigarettes.”
Actually, as I understand it, a number of years back there was a change in cigarettes to make them go out by themselves. However it was not the addition of a “fire retardant”, it was the removal of saltpeter from the mix. Saltpeter had been added to cigarettes for decades to make them burn without being smoked.
Anybody ever try to start a fire with a cigarette? While blamed many times on cigarettes, fires along highways are usually caused by something else, chains or something metal dragging behind a vehicle is a prime culprit. Bad bearing on a semi caused 6 fires over a 3 mile distance on I-20 not long ago. Safety chains on trailers are the worst.
No. But the person who’s careless disposal of the cigarette started the fire should be held responsible for the fire. Many smokers toss still smoking cigarettes onto the ground. Maybe if this person was forced to pay through the nose for his/her negligence, people would be more careful about their butts.
“No, but they will relentlessly hound, persecute and identify the potential smokers and make them pay by damn.”
—
How true.
If they had a smoking room on the premises this may have been avoided but The Commonwealth of Massachusetts won’t allow that.
.
True story: Neighbor dumps bar-b-que ash on landscaping chips which must have had grease on them, hours later flame erupts and melts off the natural gas feed to the grill, flame shoots from the gas line and melts off the hose bib above and a geyser shoots off the side of the house.
Only damage: a nights sleep and some solder.
Wood chips near a wood structure is wrong for more than one reason.
A more appropriate headline would have been “Tossed cigarette...” rather than “cigarette a culprit...” but that is my own interpretation.
I’ve spotted 2 fires starting here in my area in landscaping mulch.
Buts tossed along a highway usually end up in green grass or gravel.
One of the fires I put out was in front of a gas station.
However, if you can prove you used bark mulch prior to 4/7/14, you can register your bark mulch and continue to use it, as log as you get a “bark mulch possession and use” permit and pass a background check before purchasing a maximum of 10 bags.
I don’t smoke anymore but never was one of those people who when finished with a cigarette, just tossed it without putting it out. And of course, some people smoke at filling stations too. I was once at a gas station when a hose sprung a leak, if someone had been smoking, dire consequences.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.