The Austin Fire Department wants to raise awareness about the dangers of cigarettes after carelessly discarded smoking materials sparked three of the five apartment fires in the Austin area in the past 10 days.

One of the damaged apartment buildings is at the Retreat at Barton Creek Apartments. The South Austin complex sustained about $2 million in the July 27 fire.

Tuesday, officials with the Austin Fire Department led members of the media on a tour of the damage, hoping that by showing just how extensive the damage was, people will understand just how important it is to make sure their smoking materials have been thoroughly extinguished.

They say even one cigarette that's not put out completely, can start a massive fire.

"There is (sic) a lot of fires that are started by the misuse of any type of ignition device, whether it be a cigarette, a candle, cooking -- things like that do cause a lot of damage. By letting them see what kind of damage can be caused, they'll realize the extent of what they're doing when they misuse some of these ignition sources," said Don Smith, AFD assistant fire marshal.

One of the five recent apartment fires happened in Round Rock.

Smith says three of the recent apartment fires were started by improperly extinguished smoking materials.