Fire officials say smoking caused a blaze that killed two Winnipeg firefighters earlier this month.
Fire Commissioner Doug Popowich said Thursday that a cigarette was partially extinguished in an ashtray and then thrown in a plastic garbage can while the butt was still smouldering.
The homeowners were away on a holiday in Los Angeles on the night of the fire, Feb. 4. Their 18-year-old son and a friend were in the home, studying in the basement.
The son told the Winnipeg Free Press last Sunday that he and the friend had been smoking in the garage, but put out the cigarette in an ashtray.
The teens got out safely when the blaze broke out, but Capts. Tom Nichols, 57, and Harold Lessard, 55, were killed after they went into the burning home to ensure no one else was inside.
The intitial investigation suggests they were trapped by a flashover -- a sudden burst of flames caused by extreme heat -- that engulfed them on the second storey of a house.
Four other firefighters were injured, two severely.
Nichols and Lessard were honoured in a memorial service Wednesday, attended by thousands of family, friends, police and emergency workers from across North America. Alex Forrest, president of the Winnipeg firefighters union, said the two captains harboured a strong loved for their work.
"The passion was as strong in them as any firefighter I've ever known,'' he said. "What a tragic irony that a profession we love so much is so cruel to us.''
