Careless smoking blamed for apartment fire

A Chisinau man is safe and sound after accidentally setting his apartment on Kiev Street ablaze on Thursday afternoon. A burning cigarette is believed to be the cause of the fire. Liliana Puscasu of the Firefighters & Rescuers Dept. has told Info-Prim Neo that the man apparently drank too much and fell asleep holding a lit cigarette. Two crews managed to put out the blaze quickly but not before it slightly damaged the contents of the apartment. Luckily, no one was hurt, including the author. Flames burned through a wooden house in Bucovat village, Straseni district. A spark from an open fire is thought to have started the blaze. When Straseni and Calarasi crews arrived, the house has burned down. The firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading to nearby houses. Leaving an open fire unattended was also the cause of a fire in a van stationed near a pond in Briceni town. Witnesses eventually extinguished the fire, but the passenger compartment could not be saved. A summer kitchen in a household in Baimaclia village, Causeni district, burned down after a defective electric appliance caused a short circuit. Firefighters stopped the fire before it spread to the house. Nine fires were recorded on Thursday in Moldova. 82 persons died in 577 fires since the beginning of the year.