Cigarette in mulch blamed for Lynchburg apartment fire

By Aimee Norton

Published: March 24, 2008

Russell Tyree covers a fresh load of mulch in the bed of his trailer. He plans to put it down around his house.

“It’s just really for the appearance, the aesthetics,” he said.

But the mulch can also be a fire hazard.  Flames tore through six apartments in a Lynchburg apartment building on Saturday.  Deputy Fire Marshal David Jackson says the cause was likely a cigarette butt thrown in mulch.

“This time of year we spend each day going place to place in the city putting out these kinds of fires that are caused just by people driving down the road flicking cigarettes out the window,” said Jackson.

“It can definitely be fire hazard if it’s too close to a wooden structure type house,” said Lee Aylor, President of Aylor’s Farm and Garden in Forest.

He recommends putting stones or gravel next to your house just in case a spark starts the mulch on fire. That’s just one option.

“You can put rubber mulch down for one thing.  It’s never as flammable like wooden mulch is,” Aylor said.

For people with brick homes, the mulch isn’t much of a threat. Investigators say part of the reason the fire in Lynchburg spread so quickly was because of the siding on the building.

“Vinyl siding is very combustible. It burns very quickly,” said Jackson.

Mulch fires are more common around businesses, but Aylor thinks it’s worth taking some precautions.

“There’s always that hazard; always that possibility I think.”

The Historic Virginia Chapter of the American Red Cross is helping the families who lost their apartments in the fire.  No one was seriously hurt.