An early-morning fire forced evacuation Saturday of a condominium building at 99 Pine Street in Sault Ste. Marie.
Firefighters were called to Edgewater Manor at 5:49 a.m. to extinguish a blaze that started in furnishings on the balcony of a fourth-floor unit.
Fire damage was confined to the balcony but the building's rear exterior was scorched and some units had smoke damage.
Residents were allowed to return to their units a little after 7 a.m.
Edgewater Manor is a six-story building overlooking the St. Marys River.
Cause of the fire was believed to be a cigarette deposited in a planter.
Insurers and fire officials warn that smoking materials should never be tossed into potting soil, which often contains flammable ingredients including peat moss, bark, shredded wood, Styrofoam and vermiculite, as well as fertilizers that can act as oxidizers.
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