No injuries were reported in the blaze, which broke out shortly before 11 p.m.on Wednesdy at at 6 Portland St.
SPRINGFIELD -- A carelessly discarded cigarette was the cause of a fire that prompted the evacuation of a North End apartment complex late Wednesday night.
“It caused a lot of panic,” said Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant. No injuries were reported.
The blaze at 6 Portland St., a four-story brick building, was reported shortly before 11 p.m.. It was confined to a rear wooden porch on the third floor and caused about $1,000 in damage, Leger said.
Leger said the porch railing had been covered with plywood, perhaps in an attempt to make it safer for children, and that the cigarette had fallen in between the railing and the plywood.
It was clear from the number of discarded cigarette butts in the area that the porch served as a kind of smoking area.
“Any fire in a building like that is a dangerous situation,” Leger said. “People should be more careful with cigarettes."
