Tobacco News and Interesting Information

A minor fire on a Richardson Circle multi-floor building started yesterday afternoon after one of its tenants left a lit cigarette on a windowsill, fire officials said.

The tenant, who lives at 29A Richardson Circle, was taking part in a barbecue outside the building with three other roommates to celebrate the birthday of one of them. Fire officials initially believed the grill had caused the fire, but further investigation found it was discarded cigarettes.

"A lit cigarette was placed on the windowsill," said Deputy Fire Chief Al Ordway. "It burned through the wall after it fell into the gap between the wall and the windowsill, where the insulation is."

The fire damaged two units, 29A, and 31, located above 29A, forcing the occupants of both apartments to spend the night elsewhere and causing $7,000 to $10,000 in damage. The tenants of the other four units were allowed to go back in by police and fire officials.

The fire started a little before 1:27 p.m., when one of the tenants called police, said Ordway. Fifteen firefighters were summoned and a ambulance stood by. There were no injuries reported. Firefighters left at 2:45 p.m.

For Carlos Alberto Gomes, 38, the tenant who was planning to celebrate his birthday with a barbecue feast, his first one in the United States, the experience left him bewildered. Gomes, a native of Brazil, said he was inside the house when the blaze started.

"I smelled smoke and didn't know what it was," said Gomes, who has lived in the building for six years. "It was my first barbecue, and the last one as well."

Most of the tenants were at home when the fire started. Francisco Alves, of Apartment 28A was watching television, and so were Marvin Zepeda, his wife Flor de Maria and their five children, who live at Apartment 30. They all left their homes when police knocked on their doors and asked them to come out.

"I smelled smoke," said Flor de Maria, who moved with her family to Richardson Circle a little over a month ago. "But I didn't know what it was, until the police came and said, `Everybody out, the building is on fire'."

Shirley Silva, who lives at Apartment 31, was not at home when the fire started. Because her apartment was damaged, she was planning to spend the night at her boyfriend's place.

Framingham Code Enforcement officers were summoned to the scene. Officers found five beds at Apartment 29A, and one instance of a use of portable heater improperly wired at Apartment 31.

Building manager David Monahan said there were six units in the building but didn't say how many people live in the complex.

Fires started by cigarettes kill hundreds of people in the United States. Assistant Fire Chief Bill Norton, who was at the scene, said the tenants who were participating in the barbecue were smoking. Norton reminded residents who smoke to discard cigarettes properly to avoid fires.

"Don't put out cigarettes on the siding of the wall, " said Norton. "Use an ashtray."