MILTON TOWNSHIP Cigarette butts caused fire at police station

The report notes no smoke detector was present.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
LAKE MILTON -- The $100,000 accidental fire at the Milton Township Police Department was caused by an ashtray of cigarette butts tossed into a wastebasket.
The cause of the July 14 fire was determined that day by John Webber, an Ohio State Fire Marshal investigator. Webber's report, obtained by The Vindicator, shows this sequence of events:
The early afternoon fire began in an area of the building known as the booking room in the middle of the structure at 15992 Milton Ave. The frame building, which also housed the road department, is a pole-type construction with pitched shingle roof and concrete slab foundation that was in good to fair condition before the fire.
By following burn patterns, Webber found the remnants of a plastic wastebasket in the booking room and, next to it, remnants of a paper shredder. Burn patterns to a shelving unit showed charring just above the wastebasket.
Obtained statement
Webber obtained a written statement from Capt. Frank R. Tomaino, who was the last person to leave the building before the fire. In the statement, Tomaino said he may have emptied an ashtray, half full of cigarette butts, from his desk but didn't notice smoke coming from the ashtray.
Webber didn't find the ashtray or any cigarette butts on the desk.
"It is my opinion this was an accidental fire, with the origin being in the northwest corner of the booking room and caused by the disposal of contents of an ashtray into the garbage container," Webber said in his report.
The report notes that no smoke detector was present. Webber listed damage to the building at $15,000 and damage to contents at $85,000.
Based on a TV interview July 15, in which Milton Police Capt. Harold Johnson told a reporter the fire started in a paper shredder, Charles E. Hanni, an assistant state fire marshal, traveled to the fire scene the next day. While there, Hanni spoke by phone with Milton Fire Chief Rick Pellin Jr. about Johnson's conflicting statement.
Hanni, in his report, said Pellin wasn't aware of the police officer's TV statement or why it would have been made. Pellin agreed with Webber's determination that the fire started in the wastebasket, reports show.
At a press conference at the fire scene July 18, Tomaino told The Vindicator that the fire was thought to have been started by an electrical problem.
Explanation
Tomaino said Friday that, at the press conference two weeks ago, he passed along information to the newspaper given to him by Johnson. Tomaino said he wasn't aware that the fire started in the wastebasket until Friday, when told by a reporter.
"I wasn't sure if I had emptied the ashtray or not," Tomaino said. "I did have a problem with the paper shredder jamming."
Tomaino said he and several others smoked in the building.
The property is insured by OTARMA, which offers coverage solely to townships in Ohio, according to its Web site.
Bobby Ross, Milton Township project manager, said at the July 18 press conference that the township applied for an emergency state grant to build a government complex. Most of the money could arrive sooner than expected because of the fire, he said.
Since the fire, police have been operating out of a trailer parked in the lot.
meade@vindy.com