A Lafayette home burned Thursday night in a fire investigators say started with someone smoking in bed.
The fire happened around 8 p.m. Thursday in the 100 block of Cane Ridge Circle. Some neighbors reported that they heard an explosion.
Firefighters arrived on the scene within five minutes and found flames coming from a window in the front of the house. They found a fire in a bedroom, which they brought under control within 15 minutes. There was major fire damage in several portions of the house.
Investigators found there were two people in the home, and older man and a 42-year-old man. Neither was injured. The younger man said he woke up to find flames on the floor by his bed. He said he tried to put it out with an extinguisher but the fire was too intense. There were no smoke alarms in the house.
Fire officials determined the fire originated on the floor in the bedroom. The younger man fell asleep with a cigarette. Investigators believe the lit cigarette ignited combustible material on the floor beside the bed. The loud explosion sound heard by the neighbors was the result of a small propane cylinder breaching due to extreme heat exposure.
The cause of the fire was due to an improperly discarded cigarette, investigators decided, and ruled it an accident.
