Apartment fire safety news - February 2025

City of Seattle, Washington sent this bulletin at 02/25/2025 02:18 PM PST

Safety when smoking on decks and balconies

Apartment fire caused by smoking on deck

Improperly discarded smoking materials cause fires

The Seattle Fire Department responded to two multi-residential building fires on balconies in February. In both cases, improperly discarded smoking materials caused the fires.

Safety Precautions for Residents

If you smoke, smoke outside. Make sure to extinguish cigarettes in an approved container.
Use deep ashtrays. If ashtrays are not available, use a metal can or pail. Never empty smoking material directly into a trash can. Place the ashtrays or metal cans away from anything that can burn.
Don't leave lit smoking materials unattended. Put them out before you walk away.
Do not throw out cigarettes into vegetation, potted plants, landscaping, peat moss, dried grasses, mulch, leaves or other similar materials—they can easily catch fire.

Daylight saving time reminder - check smoke alarms

The Seattle Fire Department would like to remind everyone to check on your smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms for the start of daylight saving time (2 a.m. Sunday, March 9). We recommend carefully vacuuming around the alarms to remove dust and cobwebs and replace batteries if needed.

Changing smoke and CO alarm batteries once a year is an effective way to reduce home fire deaths and CO poisoning. Working smoke alarms can cut the risk of dying in a home fire by nearly one-half by providing an early warning and critical extra seconds to escape.

As a reminder, if you discover a fire or your CO alarms sounds without stopping, get out, close the door behind you as you exit and call 9-1-1 from a safe location.