The Saskatoon Fire Department is advising people to properly throw out stain-covered rags, after a massive fire in the Montgomery neighbourhood.
The Sunday fire destroyed three homes, two trucks, three trailers, a motorhome and convertible car.
Investigators learned the fire was caused by rags covered in staining products “spontaneously combusting” in a garage.
A battalion fire chief is advising people not to throw out rags, covered in an oil-based product, in the garbage.
“It’s not OK. You’ll start your garbage on fire,” Bill Riley said.
Instead, Riley recommends people put rags in a metal container with a lid, to cut off the oxygen supply.
“Chemical reaction, the only thing that can stop it – lack of air,” he said.
A sales associate at Windsor Plywood said a customer accidentally set fire to their cabin because they improperly disposed of rags that were covered in wood stain.
“They left rags out, didn’t think anything of it, came back and their place was gone,” Josh Desrochers, a sales associate at the home improvement store, told CTV News.
The Montgomery fire damage is estimated to be in excess of $2 million.
