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Minor Fire Provides Important Lesson
A fire Saturday morning in Galesburg wasn't a big deal other than the brief closure of a street, but for Galesburg Firefighters, it provides an important reminder.

Firefighters were called to 393 Maple Avenue around 9:30 Saturday morning for a fire that Battalion Chief Todd Peterson says started on a front porch and seemed to be coming from the porch's eaves.

The fire was all but put out by the time firefighters arrived, but Peterson tells WGIL in this case, that's not really the problem.

"We're pretty sure, just by looking at the surroundings -- there's cigarette butts all over the floor -- somebody most likely tried to put a cigarette out on the porch, or did put a cigarette out on the porch," Peterson said. "It rolled into the [side of the house] and we had a small fire."

Peterson says if you're going to smoke outside a home, put some sand in a coffee can and put cigarette butts in there, or go somewhere else and smoke.

He says in the older two-story duplex, there was a lot of wood, and the fire could have gotten a lot worse very quickly.

No one was hurt. Several people evacuated the home safely.


(Crews investigate a fire Saturday at 393 Maple Avenue. WGIL News Story and Photo by Will Stevenson.)
08 21 11 by Newsroom
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