March 12--A Collinsville woman escaped unharmed after, according to firefighters, she started a fire while smoking in bed -- and then called her boyfriend before she called the fire department.
The blaze started at just after 11 p.m. Tuesday in a two-story house in the 1000 block of Vine Street. The home was seriously damaged with siding melted outside the upstairs bedroom window and shingles charred by flames.
Firefighters said they might have been able to better contain the fire if the woman, who was not identified, called 911 instead of her boyfriend as the flames spread.
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