Bird pinches smoking butt and starts flat fire 
 
 06 March 2014 
 
 A bird started a fire in a flat in Stockwell last night, the London Fire Brigade believes. Fire investigators think a bird nicked a smouldering cigarette butt and dropped it into a nest in the roof area, causing it to catch light. 
 
 Fire investigation officer Matt Cullen, who examined the scene, said: 
 
 “When we got up into the roof, we were baffled as there were no obvious ignition sources – no one had been up to there for a long time and there were no electrics that could have sparked a blaze. We looked everywhere, but the smoking gun was found when we discovered a partially burnt birds nest. Neighbours told us they often saw birds flying in and out of a hole in the roof. We believe that one of the birds picked up a cigarette butt that was still smouldering and dropped it into the nest, causing it to catch fire and set the roof alight. 
 
 “The incident is a great example of why it’s important to put your cigarettes out fully – you never know what might become of your smouldering butts! Luckily for the residents, their neighbours saw the smoke and raised the alarm, so fire crews could get in quickly and bring it under control.” 
 
 Four fire engines and 21 firefighters and officers went to the blaze on Landor Road in Stockwell. The Brigade was called at 2223 and the fire was under control at 0039. The fire damaged around a fifth of the roof area but no one was hurt. Nine people escaped the building before crews arrived. 
 
 

 Image copyright London Fire Brigade Image caption Birds had often been seen flying into a hole in the roof 
 
 A bird carrying a lit cigarette to its nest has been blamed for starting a fire in a building in south London. 
 
 London Fire Brigade investigators believe a bird took the smouldering butt to its nest on the roof of the building in Landor Road, Stockwell. 
 
 Matt Cullen, who examined the scene after the fire on Wednesday night, said he was "baffled" at first. 
 
 "The smoking gun was found when we discovered a partially burnt birds nest," he said. 
 
 The blaze damaged about a fifth of the building's roof and nine people were evacuated. 
 
 'Crazy' fire 
 
 Mr Cullen said: "When we got up into the roof, we were baffled as there were no obvious ignition sources. 
 
 "No-one had been up to there for a long time and there were no electrics that could have sparked a blaze. 
 
 "Neighbours told us they often saw birds flying in and out of a hole in the roof. 
 
 "We believe that one of the birds picked up a cigarette butt that was still smouldering and dropped it into the nest, causing it to catch fire and set the roof alight." 
 
 Richard Scroggs, who runs The Old Post Office Bakery in Landor Road, remarked: "It's crazy isn't it? 
 
 "Smokers. What can you say? I'm glad I gave up."
– Fires started by carelessly discarded cigarettes are nothing new to the London Fire Brigade—but the culprits are usually people, not birds. Investigators were initially baffled by a fire on the roof of a building in south London, but they eventually concluded that it had been started by a lit cigarette carried to the rooftop by a bird, the BBC reports. "No one had been up to there for a long time and there were no electrics that could have sparked a blaze," an investigator writes at the brigade's website. "We looked everywhere, but the smoking gun was found when we discovered a partially burnt birds nest. Neighbors told us they often saw birds flying in and out of a hole in the roof. We believe that one of the birds picked up a cigarette butt that was still smoldering and dropped it into the nest, causing it to catch fire and set the roof alight."