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Improperly discarded smoking material ignited mulch and spread into an occupied Herndon apartment building on April 15, displacing three people and causing an estimated $98,275 in damage.
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department crews responded at 12:42 p.m. to the 13400 block of Coppermine Road after receiving reports of an exterior fire spreading to the building.
Arriving firefighters found flames extending from outside into a ground-floor apartment and reaching toward the second floor. Crews worked to extinguish the blaze, search the building and evacuate residents.
The building was fully occupied when the fire began. One resident smelled smoke outside his apartment and discovered smoke rising from a mulch bed beside the building.
All occupants either evacuated safely or sheltered in place. One patient was evaluated at the scene, and no firefighters were injured.
Investigators determined that the fire started in the exterior mulch after smoking material was discarded improperly.