Improperly discarded smoking materials were the cause of a $2.25 million fire at a Sterling warehouse, the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal’s Office said in a news release.
The raging fire that people saw from miles away happened Monday afternoon in a warehouse on Acacia Lane in the Prospect Industrial Park.
It took two and a half hours for units from Kincora, Moorefield, Cascades, Sterling Park, Ashburn, Fairfax County, and the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority to bring the two-alarm accidental fire under control.
The building housed materials — tar, shingles, and plastics — for a roofing waterproofing company, the Loudoun Times-Mirror reported.
The fire department said nobody sustained injuries at the Sterling warehouse fire, but one firefighter needed to be evaluated on the scene for minor heat-related injuries.
Fires caused by improperly discarded smoking materials added up to $361.5 million in losses and resulted in 275 deaths and 750 injuries in 2021, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
Loudoun County Fire and Rescue said people who smoke should do so outside. They need to make sure they extinguish their smoking materials in appropriate containers. Hot ashes can smolder for days, the department said.
Back in 2020, a Fairfax County fire sparked by improperly discarded smoking materials caused more than $48 million in damage to a mixed-use development that was under construction off North Kings Highway.
Feature image courtesy Loudoun County Fire and Rescue/Facebook
