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by Fernanda Santos
A Bronx man died early yesterday in his second-floor bedroom in a blaze ignited by a cigarette, officials said.
Fire marshals found a burned cigarette lying beside 50-year-old Ramon Ramirez's bed in his Bedford Park home after the 1:37 a.m. fire, officials said.
Six firefighters and two other residents of the Decatur Ave. house, off E. 198th St., were treated at Jacobi Medical Center for smoke inhalation, an FDNY spokesman said.
It was the second city fire fatality linked to smoking in two days.
Homeless Polish immigrant Zdzislaw Pistowski died Sunday in a Brooklyn warehouse blaze that was traced to a cigarette.
"Cigarettes need to be extinguished properly, just like you would extinguish a candle or a campfire," said Michelle LeMay Santiago, executive director of the FDNY Fire Safety Education Fund.
Careless smoking remains the leading single cause of fire deaths in the city.
So far this year, 59 New Yorkers have died in fires - with 19 of the deaths caused by careless smoking, Santiago said.
One-fifth of last year's 125 fire fatalities were attributed to careless smoking, records show.
"People don't realize they're setting a fire every time they light up a cigarette," Santiago said. "They really need to respect that flame."
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