The number of balcony fires caused by carelessly discarded cigarettes has risen dramatically so far in 2016, prompting Toronto Fire officials to issue a warning to members of the public.
Toronto Fire has determined that 27 balcony fires have been caused by carelessly discarded cigarettes since Jan. 1. That is compared to 25 such occurrences in all of 2016.
“We want individuals to be responsible with the disposal of cigarettes and stop throwing them over the balconies,” Deputy Chief Jim Jessop told CP24 on Wednesday. “As recently as the other night we had to rescue a woman confined to wheelchair when a fire was started on the balcony beside her due to a carelessly discarded cigarette.”
Jessop said that fires involving cigarettes that have been carelessly tossed from a higher floor have become a “huge” problem for Toronto Fire Services.
He said that so far in 2017 the fire have caused more than $300,000 in property damage and become a drain on firefighting resources.
“Residents are displaced, you have some damage, you have water damage and you have risk to our staff because high-rise fires are very labour intensive and very difficult to fight,” he said.
Jessop said that carelessly discarding cigarettes is not mentioned in the Ontario Fire Code, making it a difficult offence to prosecute. He also conceded that it is hard to identify who is to blame when a carelessly discarded cigarette from above ignites a fire.
