Fire breaks out in Baku apartment building after resident throws cigarette out window

A fire broke out in an apartment building in Baku earlier today, burning down one of the apartments inside. 

According to a preliminary investigation, the fire was caused by a cigarette butt that had been thrown out of a window in the building. 

In Baku, throwing still lit cigarettes from apartment windows is a common practice. 

The fire has sparked discussion on social media, bringing attention to the fact that the habit is really quite dangerous.

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Investigators say that this is how the event unfolded: one of the residents of an upper-floor apartment threw out a lit cigarette butt, which fell onto a lower-floor balcony, igniting a fire.

Who exactly the culprit is and what consequences they may face are still unknown.

Although Azerbaijan has a law which prohibits disposing of garbage anywhere other than in a dumpster, in reality, it is never enforced. 

And even if the law is more or less respected in the city center, many apartment building residents still throw their cigarette butts into the yard.

Comments from social media:

“I can totally believe that this happened. I’ve yelled at my neighbors more than once for throwing cigarette butts off of their balcony.”

“I also believe it. We need to figure out a way to track down the people that do this.”

“We once had a mattress that was drying out on the balcony catch fire because someone did this.”

“One time a lit cigarette butt almost fell on my head!”