LYNN — A cigarette is yet again determined to be the likely cause of a house fire in Lynn, according to Fire Capt. Joseph Zukas.
Zukas said the fire department responded to a call at 7:28 a.m. Thursday for a working fire at the front door of a single-family home on Fremont Place.
One firefighter was transported to a nearby hospital to be treated for a minor back injury. The home sustained minor damage and all occupants were allowed back inside shortly after 8:15 a.m., Zukas said.
Although emergency crews were able to extinguish the flames by 8:12 a.m., Zukas said the fire is the eighth or ninth in the last month believed to have been caused by improper disposal of a cigarette.
“We’ve had a lot of fires lately in Lynn because of that over the past month,” he said. “It’s very peculiar.”
Zukas said the abundance of those types of fires is especially surprising considering Massachusetts currently operates under the Fire Standard Compliant (FSC) Cigarette Program, which requires tobacco companies to certify every brand and style of cigarette as fire standard compliant before they are allowed to sell in Massachusetts.
According to mass.gov, the program’s goal is to prevent indoor smoking fires through the use of self-extinguishing cigarettes.
