1. Headline
  1. Headline
msnbc.com
updated 6/17/2011 9:23:16 PM ET 2011-06-18T01:23:16

Emergency personnel were called Wednesday to a Fort Walton Beach, Fla., home where a man accidentally started a fire with rubbing alcohol and a cigarette, NWFDailyNews.com reported.

  1. Stories from
    1. Reese Witherspoon Shows Off Her Baby Bump at Cannes
    2. All the Details on Beyoncé's Atlantic City Concert Costumes
    3. Will Smith Terrified of Willow Dating
    4. Pedro Hernandez Charged with the Murder of Etan Patz
    5. Kaela Humphries Changes Her Athlete's Diet - and Loses 40 Lbs.

The man told deputies he was sitting on his bed cleaning an infection on his foot with the alcohol about 10:30 a.m., said Battalion Chief Shannon Stone of the Fort Walton Beach Fire Department, according to the website.

Some alcohol spilled on the sheets, the man told authorities, and when his cigarette touched the spill, a fire started. Stone said he did not know why the cigarette contacted the bedclothes.

The man pulled the sheets off and left to get something to put out the fire with, the NWFDailyNews.com reported. But when he returned, the fire was much larger, and the man left the house and called 911, the site reported.

“I guess it is a little uncommon,” Stone told NWFDailyNews.com. “But that’s what he says. There’s no reason not to believe it.”

All the people in the house were able to get out safely, the website reported.

Stone told the site the single-family home suffered significant damage and was uninhabitable.

The fire was ruled accidental.

© 2012 msnbc.com Reprints

Discuss:

Discussion comments

,

Most active discussions

  1. votes comments
  2. votes comments
  3. votes comments
  4. votes comments

More on TODAY.com

None
  1. Retired cop: I know Zodiac Killer’s name

    video A former California highway patrolman has written a book in which he claims a 91-year-old man who died this year was the famed Zodiac Killer, who killed at least five people in the San Francisco area in the 1960s. NBC’s Mike Taibbi reports.

    5/26/2012 2:42:50 PM +00:00 2012-05-26T14:42:50
None
  1. TODAY

    video Do crying babies make you sharper?

    5/26/2012 2:39:26 PM +00:00 2012-05-26T14:39:26
None
  1. Biographer claims Prince William scarred by parent’s marriage

    video The author of a new book about the life of Prince William says that the royal most likely to ascend to the throne was scarred by his parent’s marital problems, and long-believed he might not ever settle down. NBC’s Duncan Golestani reports.

    5/26/2012 2:55:41 PM +00:00 2012-05-26T14:55:41
None
  1. TODAY

    video ‘Hunger Games’ comes to life?

    5/26/2012 2:46:43 PM +00:00 2012-05-26T14:46:43
None
  1. Stuntman falls 2,400 feet without chute

    video TODAY’s Jenna Wolfe speaks with stuntman Gary Connery, the first person to drop out of a helicopter wearing a “wing suit” and land without deploying a parachute.

    5/26/2012 2:45:01 PM +00:00 2012-05-26T14:45:01
None
  1. Is suspect in Etan Patz murder sane?

    video A lawyer for a 51-year-old New Jersey man accused of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz in New York City 33 years ago says his client has mental health problems that may come into play during his prosecution. Former FBI profiler Clint van Zandt discusses the case.

    5/26/2012 2:49:53 PM +00:00 2012-05-26T14:49:53