Country Club Ret Center III: Fire Hazard Violations - OH
That's what a state inspector found on the morning of November 5, 2025, at Country Club Retirement Center III, a nursing home with 72 residents on its census. The designated outdoor smoking area near the kitchen exit door had two large steel cigarette butt receptacles, both labeled "butt cans," both filled past capacity. The overflow hadn't just landed on clean pavement. It had landed on dry leaves.
The facility's own maintenance director was standing there when the inspector documented it.
The Director of Maintenance, identified in inspection records as DM #539, confirmed what the inspector was seeing: overfilled cans, cigarette butts on dry leaves and debris. He agreed it was a fire hazard. He said he was going to empty the cans and remove the butts.
The problem with that answer is what it implies about the timeline. The cans were not slightly full. They were overflowing. Butts had scattered across the ground. Dry leaves had accumulated underneath and around them. None of that happens in an afternoon. The condition the inspector photographed and documented on a Tuesday morning was the result of the area going unattended for long enough that the receptacles ran out of room and the surrounding ground became a pile of combustible material laced with cigarette remnants.
The smoking area sits near the kitchen exit door. That detail matters. Kitchen exits are among the more active exterior doorways in any facility, used by staff throughout the day and during shift changes. The area was not tucked away in an unused corner of the property. It was near a door that people move through regularly.
Country Club Retirement Center III's own resident smoking policy, last reviewed in January 2025, states that residents who smoke must use the designated outside area and must discard cigarette butts and matches in the appropriate receptacle. The receptacles were there. They simply hadn't been emptied.
The inspection that turned up the hazard was a complaint investigation, and this finding was listed as incidental, meaning it surfaced during the course of looking into something else entirely. Inspectors weren't there specifically to check the smoking area. They walked past it and found what they found.
The harm level was classified as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, a designation that reflects the fact that no fire occurred. The finding was not elevated to immediate jeopardy. But the mechanics of what was documented, dry leaves, scattered cigarette butts, overflowing containers near a frequently used exit, are the same mechanics present in outdoor fires that do cause harm. The classification reflects outcome, not risk.
Seventy-two people live in that building.
The maintenance director's response, that he was going to empty the cans and remove the butts, addressed the immediate condition. It did not address how the cans reached that state without anyone intervening sooner. A smoking area near a kitchen exit, in active daily use by residents, employees, and visitors, does not require a formal inspection to reveal overflowing receptacles. It requires someone to look.
The inspection was conducted on November 5, 2025, with the report finalized the following day.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Country Club Ret Center I I I from 2025-11-06 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: June 22, 2026 · Our methodology
COUNTRY CLUB RET CENTER I I I in ASHTABULA, OH was cited for violations during a health inspection on November 6, 2025.
That's what a state inspector found on the morning of November 5, 2025, at Country Club Retirement Center III, a nursing home with 72 residents on its census.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.