(Photos by Christopher Boffoli, added 12:50 pm)
11:37 AM: Christopher Boffoli checked out the call in the 8400 block of Delridge (map). Big response but ultimately a very small fire: Fire Department crews at the scene told him that “improperly extinguished smoking materials” outside the building burned into the crawlspace. ADDED 12:50 PM: Added photos. Christopher reports, “The firefighters told me this could have been a much different story. You could actually see on the ground outside of the building where cigarette butts had ignited the mulch (below) and smoldered right into the building’s crawl space. They said it looked like it had been burning for a while and if that fire had spread to the evergreen bushes above and/or if it had been at night when people wouldn’t have so readily smelled and seen the smoke, that it might have been a much bigger fire. They said the landlord was coming out to repair the door the SFD broke down to get in and that they were going to encourage him to provide a receptacle outside for people to put their cigarette butts into.”