Discarded cigarette fire 

With the hot and dry conditions set to continue, firefighters are urging smokers to properly stub out cigarettes after a fire in Brentwood today. 

Crews were called to Geary Drive, Brentwood at 1:09pm. 

On arrival, firefighters reported that a fire in a garden was starting to spread to the outside of a house.

Firefighters extinguished the fire by 1:30pm and believe it was caused by a discarded cigarette. 

Some of the guttering on the house had melted during the fire and there was smoke damage to the exterior wall. 

Crew Manager Andy Haswell from Brentwood Fire Station said: “With the weather getting hotter and everything being dry at the moment, we’re urging smokers to properly stub out cigarettes before you discard them. 

“It only takes a small ember from the lit cigarette to start a fire and when conditions are dry like this and will continue to be dry, it’s especially important to double check cigarettes are properly extinguished as the dry conditions will help a fire spread faster.”