Firefighters discover smouldering drawer stuffed with cigarette ends

Cigarette butts disposed of in a bathroom drawer caused a fire alert at Gunwharf Quays this morning.

Residents on the eighth floor were woken by the sound of a smoke alarm just before 6am and crews from Cosham and Southsea were called to the residential tower at East Side Plaza, better known as the Lipstick Tower.

Smoke was discovered on the floor and firefighters in breathing apparatus traced the fire to a bathroom in one of the flats, where a drawer stuffed with cigarette ends was smouldering.

The firefighters were able to remove the drawer and extinguish the smouldering fire before it spread any further. The resident of the flat had managed to escape having been alerted by the smoke alarm and no-one was injured in the incident.