The Nome Volunteer Fire Department responded quickly to a small blaze in a shed on 1st Avenue yesterday afternoon.
“It appears that it possibly could have come from a cigarette butt,” said Jerry Steiger, NVFD’s acting chief. He says police are working to confirm the official cause of the fire, but it appears a cigarette tossed out in a can ignited a piece of insulation on the shed’s wall.
The call came in around 3:45 PM yesterday, and fire was quickly brought under control. Two ambulances and two fire vehicles were on the scene, along with officers from Nome’s police department.
“Be careful about those cigarette butts. Make sure those things are completely extinguished,” Steiger cautioned, “I think this is at least our third incident of cigarettes in cans causing fires.”
The property, near the corner of First Ave and Lanes Way near Front Street, is owned by Mark Sackett.
No one was inside, and Steiger says no one was injured.
