A small fire inside a downtown apartment building could have been much worse, officials said today, after a resident threw smoldering remains down the garbage chute.
Rochester firefighters were called at 5:50 p.m. Friday to 200 First Ave. NW for a report of smoke on the ninth floor. They couldn't find a source, the report says, nor was there anything on the floors immediately above and below.
They learned the source was on the 14th floor, said Larry Mueller, assistant fire marshal, and found an apartment with smoke still coming out. The woman inside said her cat had somehow turned on a burner on the electric stove, igniting a cardboard box she'd kept on the stove "for years," the report says.
She was able to extinguish the small fire, then threw the burned box down the building's garbage chute, Mueller said. Firefighters retrieved the remains, which were still smoldering, he said, and ventilated the floors that had light smoke in the hallways.
The smoke detectors in the common areas didn't sound, the report says, something fire department personnel is checking.
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No damage was reported.
