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Pigeons and toilets rolls among weirdest causes of fires in 2013

London Fire Brigade has revealed the reasons behind some bizarre call outs.

LONDON FIRE BRIGADE has released the findings of investigations into the causes of the blazes they attend, in a bid to highlight the importance of fire safety.

Every year, their 25-person strong investigative team is called out to establish the origin of how around 2,000 fires in the English capital start.

All could have been avoided with some knowledge of fire safety, but some hapless fire-starters displayed considerable less cop-on than others.

One unfortunate teenage boy – heading out on his first ever date – sprayed a can of deodorant on himself, but then decided to light up what remained of the can.

The gases ignited and an explosion occurred. Luckily, the boy wasn’t seriously injured. However, he did miss his date.

Toilet trouble

Another fire was set after someone tried to dry out a toilet roll they had dropped in the loo by placing it in their microwave.

In a similar bogroll-related incident, a fire broke out when a man used a toilet roll as a candle holder before leaving the contraption in his bathroom unattended.

The fire investigators found “a toilet roll shaped pile of ash” on his bathroom cabinet, with a pool of wax underneath.

Great paws of fire

Other weird fire-starters include family pets – one being a dog that hit the controls of a toaster with its paws as it leap onto a worktop in search of food. (The dog survived).

But perhaps the weirdest animal involved in arson of all was the pigeon that dropped a discarded lit cigarette down a chimney that had been blocked up. The resulting fire was set in a bird’s nest.

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