A fire that started in the basement of the Lafayette Townhouse apartments Sunday morning could have been a lot worse if the building’s fire alarm system had not worked so well, a spokesman for the Portland Fire Department said.
Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Neat attributed the cause of the fire to the improper disposal of cigarettes, which he said had been inadvertently tossed into an exterior garden planter. The cigarette butts started a fire that burned through into the basement area, triggering smoke detectors and the Lafayette’s smoke alarm system, which led to an all-hands fire call around 11 a.m.
More than 25 firefighters responded and were able to contain the fire to the basement area, which sustained smoke and fire damage. Neat said the seven-story building at 638 Congress St., at the intersection of Park Street, contains about 100 apartment units. Some tenants left the building during the smoky fire, but most remained in their apartment units, Neat said.
“We did not have to evacuate the building,” he said.
The section of Congress Street near the Lafayette was closed to traffic for about two hours, the deputy chief said.
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