Firefighters say the resident of a third floor unit threw a cigarette onto the balcony then went to bed. It rolled into a hole in the balcony which caught fire. The wall also caught fire and flames almost reached the attic. The resident of another unit saw the flames and called firefighters.
"It wasn't that far away from really getting into the attic," said Chief Richard Hollas with the Houston Fire Department. "It could have been bad."
Firefighters say this is a good reminder for smokers to always use an ashtray.
