SPOKANE, Wash. — Two people are displaced following a fire caused by a lit cigarette on West Gardner Avenue Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Spokane Fire Department, a porch fire was reported at the 1-and-a-half-story home around 4 p.m. When firefighters arrived, they saw visible flames from the roof and neighbors were already trying to put out the fire using garden hoses.
Firefighters opened parts of the roof and ceiling to access the fire through the attic. The fire was under control within 20 minutes, though the home suffered significant damage.
One person was taken to the hospital with a knee injury that happened when they were running a hose to the house.
The American Red Cross was called to help the two people displaced by the fire.
SFD said the fire started when a neighbor dropped a lit cigarette on the ground, which was covered with a thin layer of cottonwood pollen.
The cottonwood pollen caught fire. That fire quickly spread across the yard, through nearby shrubs, onto the porch and into the home.
RELATED: Pullman Fire Department asks for people to not burn cottonwood fluff
SFD said to use extreme caution with smoking materials, especially as we enter wildfire season.
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