Bird with cigarette starts Brixton house fire

Firefighters deal with incident on Landor Road. Picture by London Fire Brigade
Firefighters deal with incident on Landor Road. Picture by London Fire Brigade

Firefighters are blaming a bird for a house fire on Landor Road, Brixton last night (Wednesday).

According to the London Fire Brigade the surprising culprit picked up a smouldering cigarette butt and dropped it into the roof, which went on to start the blaze at about 10pm.

Fire investigation officer Matt Cullen, who was at the scene, said: “When we got up into the roof, we were baffled as there were no obvious ignition sources – no one had been up to there for a long time and there were no electrics that could have sparked a blaze.

“We looked everywhere, but the smoking gun was found when we discovered a partially burnt bird’s nest.”

Neighbours said they often saw birds flying in and out of a hole in the roof.

Cullen added: “We believe that one of the birds picked up a cigarette butt that was still smouldering and dropped it into the nest, causing it to catch fire and set the roof alight.”

Nine people escaped from the building before the emergency services arrived, no one was hurt in the blaze.

2 COMMENTS

  1. “no one was hurt in the blaze.”
    What about the chicks? Won’t someone please think of the chicks?!

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