At 3:05 p.m., firefighters responded to reports of a large volume of fire on the front deck of a mobile home at 10660 SW Wilsonville Road in Wilsonville.

A Clackamas County Sheriff's Office deputy arrived first on scene and was told by neighbors that two occupants might be inside the home - a woman and a child. The deputy began checking for occupants but soon determined nobody was home at the time of the fire.

Upon arrival, firefighters extinguished the fire and prevented it from spreading from the deck to the inside of the home.

A TVF&R fire investigator responded to the scene and, after examining material evidence, determined the most probable cause of the fire was the result of smoking materials that were improperly discarded in a terra-cotta planting pot partially filled with combustible materials. The pot was on a plastic table, and it appears that once the fire started, the pot broke, and fire spread to the table and wood deck below.

TVF&R urges citizens to dispose of smoking materials properly.

* Don't put cigarettes out in landscaping, barkdust, or potted plants. Potting soil is an organic material and has the potential to ignite.
* The best option for ensuring complete extinguishment of smoking materials is to smother them with water in a metal container.
* Don't let cigarette butts pile up - the materials are combustible and may smolder for several hours before causing a fire.
* Don't toss your smoking materials out on the roadway or into landscaping.