Smoking Materials Cause Of Coffman Ave House Fire

More details on a fire that destroyed a home on West Coffman Street in Casper early Saturday morning.

David Lundahl,  fire prevention officer for Casper Fire EMS Community Risk Reduction says firefighters found nearly the entire outer back of the house on fire when they arrived. The Fire had also traveled inside the home, helped along by a steady breeze blowing that morning. Lundahl says the decking material, where the fire started added to the fuel.

"The deck was made of the new composite type decking and that does burn very well." In addition a gas meter at the back of the house ignited, increasing the fire intensity.

Lundahl says inspectors have determined, after talking to the residents, that improperly disposed of smoking material caused the blaze.

"The people at the house did say that they were using the outside. That's where they smoke their cigerettes. They did smoke that morning, put the cigerettes out in the ashtray that they had, dumped the ashtray into a plastic container and put a lid on it, but also had some other trash in there."

Crews were able to bring the fire quickly under control, despite having to work around fallen electrical wires. No one was home at the time, however the family dog died from smoke and gas inhalation.

Damage to the home is extensive. The majority of living areas sustained heavy heat and smoke damage and most of the contents were damaged or destroyed.