'General Hospital' Kelly Monaco's Home Torched by Friday the 13th Fire

"General Hospital" star Kelly Monaco had some bad luck on Friday the 13th ... her home went up in flames, thanks to a cigarette that ignited the blaze.

Kelly tells TMZ ... she woke up late Friday morning to a fire raging on her front yard, with flames licking her windows. The flames quickly engulfed portions of the house.

Kelly was able to escape ... but the house did not fare well. The blaze caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to her Sherman Oaks home. It won't be livable for quite a while.

Kelly says she turned her security footage over to law enforcement and we're told arson investigators were able to determine the fire was started by someone tossing a lit cigarette butt on the empty lot next to her home. The investigators believe the fire was not started intentionally.

Talk about bad luck on Friday the 13th.

Kelly, who has appeared on soap operas for 22 years and counting, says she's been a part of some pretty wild stories on set ... but none of the scripts compare to living through a massive fire at her home.

She's got a message now that she's come face-to-face with flames ... "Something as little as a cigarette butt can cause casualties and devastation."