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Boulder apartment fire started after person discarded 'smoking material' in potted plant

boulder complex fire.jpg
Posted at 10:25 AM, Apr 18, 2022
and last updated 2022-04-18 12:25:29-04

BOULDER, Colo. — An apartment fire from March 25 in Boulder started after a person discarded a "smoking material" in a potted plant, according to Boulder Fire-Rescue.

Officials with the department said the smoking item was put in a pot that had soil mix and dried and dead plants. It started a fire that burned multiple buildings at the Magwood Apartments, located at 2880 Kalmia Avenue.

"Materials like potting mix may actually allow smoking materialsa to smolder and are not enough to extinguish flammable material," the department said.

The fire started around 5 a.m. on March 25 and was mostly out by 8:30 a.m. Everybody was able to evacuate safely, according to Dionne Waugh, public information officer for the City of Boulder. Thirty-one people from 24 units were displaced.

Waugh said firefighters believe the fire sparked in the upper part of the building, and spread along and through the attic, traveling above the sprinkler system.