SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Mike Top says damage at the Vallahala Boulevard fire last weekend is estimated at over $1 million.
Top says a smoldering cigar dropped in potting soil caused the blaze on a third floor deck of the Penbrooke Place apartments. Top says potting soil contains peat moss and other flammables that when dried can become combustible.
He says the cigar smoker thought he extinguished his cigar around 11 a.m. and Fire Rescue wasn't dispatched until 7 p.m.
The cigar smoldered for almost eight hours.