Cigarette hits oxygen tank and starts blaze at Riverside senior apartments

More than a dozen people were left homeless in Riverside after firefighters say a woman accidentally dropped a lighted cigarette onto her oxygen tank, sparking a raging fire at a senior citizen apartment complex.

Two people, including the woman who dropped the cigarette, were treated at a hospital for minor smoke inhalation.

The blaze began early Thursday at Riverside’s Mount Rubidoux Manor after the cigarette hit the tank’s hose.

The fire gutted the building’s 10th floor, forcing 13 residents to abandon their homes. Some on the ninth floor also had to leave.

At one point all of the building’s nearly 200 residents were evacuated.

Capt. Ray Mendoza of the Riverside Fire Department warned that it’s not wise to smoke and use an oxygen tank at the same time.