Porch fire ignited by cigarette butt

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Tweet Approximately $50,000 in damage was caused Tuesday night after a fire erupted between Harrison Roadhouse and Udon Sushi Bakery.

"The fire started in the space between (the two buildings)," said Bob Pratt, East Lansing's fire marshal. "It was caused by a careless disposal of a cigarette from the apartment."

The cigarette was thrown over a small balcony connected to an apartment, which is located directly above Udon Sushi Bakery, 134 N. Harrison Ave. The balcony rests over a 4-inch gap that connects the bakery and Harrison Roadhouse, Pratt said. The cigarette fell within that gap.

"The fire alarm started going off," said Jillian Pacer, a human biology senior and resident of the apartment. "I looked to the back window and saw the porch was on fire."

The carpet of Pacer's back porch contained grease and oil from previous residents, she said.

"Careless smoking was, until last year, the leading cause of fatal fires," Pratt said. "The other thing is that people choose to use absolutely inappropriate material for ashtrays."

Between the 4-inch gap, fire investigators found plastic cups stuffed with paper towels and cigarette butts.

"They didn't cause a fire this time," Pratt said. "But sometime, someone put a plastic cup with a wet paper towel (in it) and put cigarette butts in them. I've given talks about people using Styrofoam cups and bottle caps, and it's a careless cause of fires."

"It was a fairly substantial fire. Two of the three buildings were block construction, and if they were wood, we would have lost both."

Harrison Roadhouse, 122 N. Harrison Avenue, did not sustain any damage from the fire.

"It just started getting smoke inside, and we thought there was a garbage can on fire," said Amy Smith, a Muskegon resident and customer of the pub.

"Eventually they had us evacuate the building and said there was fire on the roof."

Pacer and her roommate won't be able to move back into their apartment for another two weeks and will have to find a place to live on their own.

"I'm pretty upset about the smoke damage," Pacer said.

Local & State editor Kris Turner contributed to this report.

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