Cigarette causes fire in farm office

Firefighters have urged people to properly stub out their cigarettes after a farm office was destroyed in Little Bardfield last night. 

When crews from Wethersfield and Thaxted arrived, the fire was almost out due to owners tackling the fire themselves.

Firefighters used Thermal Imaging Cameras to check for hotspots and made sure the fire was properly extinguished. 

Watch Manager Darren Hockley said: “If you’re a smoker, please make sure to properly extinguish your cigarettes. Make sure they are properly stubbed out before you discard them as the embers can quickly catch nearby materials alight. Unfortunately it has completely destroyed the farm’s office. 

“In addition to this, a lot of people use their outbuildings, garages and sheds as working spaces or a place to store electrical items. It doesn’t hurt to have a smoke alarm installed in these areas as they are the first thing to alert you if there is a fire. In this case the owners were alerted by their electrics tripping out and the fire was well developed.”

If you're a smoker or you have a smoker living in your home, make sure you follow our advice to stay safe at home:

• Make sure your all cigarettes are fully extinguished
• Take extra care when you’re tired, taking any sort of drugs or have been drinking alcohol. It’s very easy to fall asleep while your cigarette is still burning
• Never smoke in bed - if you need to lie down, don’t light up. You could doze off and set your bed on fire
• Never leave lit cigarettes unattended - they can easily overbalance as they burn down
• Use a proper, heavy ashtray that can’t tip over easily and is made of a material that won’t burn. Make sure your cigarette is fully extinguished
• Tap your ash into an ashtray, never a wastebasket containing other rubbish – and don’t let the ash or cigarette ends build up in the ashtray
• Use child safe matches and cigarette lighters and keep them safely out of the reach of children
• Fit and maintain a smoke alarm - a working smoke alarm can buy you valuable time to get out, stay out and call 999