In October, a 58-year-old Ossining woman died after fire officials said a lit cigarette ignited a blaze in her apartment at Waterview on the Hudson.
Four months earlier, a three-story home on Prospect Street in Spring Valley was severely damaged in a fire sparked by a tenant smoking in an attic.
This month alone, two house fires in North White Plains and a third in Thornwood were blamed on carelessly discarded cigarettes.
It's an indication that cigarette smoking remains a major hazard for residents — and a serious concern for local fire officials.
"It's a huge concern," said North White Plains Fire Chief Andrew Seicol. "You would hope that in 2018 we would be at a point where the public awareness would be at a level where we wouldn’t still have these types of issues. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. These are very preventable incidents.”