KSBY News San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, Paso Robles - Smoking appears to have caused Morro Bay garage fire

Photos
Video

- Smoking appears to have caused Morro Bay garage fire
- Smoking appears to have caused Morro Bay garage fire

Posted: Mar 10, 2010 2:13 PM
Updated: Mar 10, 2010 10:39 PM

The owner of the home whose garage caught fire in Morro Bay Tuesday night says he thinks he accidentally caused the fire with tobacco from his pipe. Timothy Daniels says he likely didn't completely extinguish it when tapping out the pipe into a waste container. He says he usually disposes of the burned tobacco in a metal bucket, but thinks some of it may have spilled into a wooden container sitting next to it.

Morro Bay fire chief Mike Pond says his officers are investigating the cause, but noted it appears Mr. Daniels version of what happened seems to be consistent with what his investigators have discovered so far.

Heat from the fire caused ammunition to pop off that was stored inside the garage. Daniels said he had an assortment of shotgun shells and leftover ammunition that he had kept in the confines of the garage area.

Damage was confined to the garage area and firefighters kept it from spreading into the home on Ironwood Ave. The garage damage was estimated to be around $80,000, with property loss inside the garage around $25,000.

We'll have additional information about the fire on KSBY News at 6pm.