January 12, 1993 (~estimated)

Cigarettes Spark Fire At Brooks Bend Home

Cigarette butts dumped into a garage trash can may have sparked a fire last week at the home of Peter Eisenberger, 170 Brooks Bend Road.

A housekeeper, Emilse Escobedo, who was alone, later told police that she had emptied, fireplace ashes into a plastic bag around 9 last Wednesday morning and then placed the bag inside a plastic trash can in the garage. Around 2 in the afternoon, she said, she placed some cigarette butts in the same bag in the trash can. A little more than an hour later she saw smoke and smelled something burning in the garage and then saw flames.

The housekeeper told police she burned her left hand while trying to sweep the fire from the garage with a broom. When she failed, she called police a 3:23 to report the fire before returning to the garage and pouring buckets of water on the fire until police and firemen arrived.

Lt. Mario Musso reported that Ms. Escobedo’s face was black with smoke and she suffered burn blisters to her left hand and fingers.

There was smoke damage to the garage interior and the wall and some fire damage to the wall next to the house.

Items in the garage that sustained smoke and water damage included a wooden work bench, 12 H.P. tractor, AM/FM radio and two plastic garbage cans.