Fire at Lincoln flats caused by carelessly discarded cigarette

A large blaze at a block of flats on the Ermine Estate in Lincoln was caused by a discarded cigarette, firefighters confirmed.

Residents of Welland Road were met with dramatic scenes on the evening of Sunday, August 7, as plumes of black smoke circled the Trent View block of flats.

Eyewitnesses described how people were evacuated from the building just after 7.20pm, when firefighters attended the scene.

Crews confirmed that the fire was caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette, which ignited a quantity of rubbish and cabling on the side of the building.

The blaze was extinguished and no injuries were reported.

Resident Hayley Louise posted on social media that the fire was right outside her flat.

Trent View resident Hayley Louise said the fire was directly outside her living room. She said: “We were so lucky it didn’t catch the curtains alight because the windows were wide open.

“It was full of smoke and turned the ceiling a strange colour… Everything was okay apart from what it did to our window.”