Christy Clark isn’t the only one who thinks penalties should be tougher for people who carelessly toss cigarette butts.
On Sunday, the premier said the disrespectful and dangerous practice needs to be brought to an end in light of a human-caused wildfire in southeast B.C. that has already destroyed 30 homes and forced hundreds to flee.
It’s a suggestion the District of Sooke’s fire chief agreed with wholeheartedly.
“A cigarette in the grass and you can start a fire within a matter of minutes,” Steven Sorensen said. “Not every one is going to start a fire, but one is more than enough.”
His remarks came the same day as firefighters in Metchosin had to battle a fast-moving brush fire just off East Sooke Road.
Fortunately for crews, the blaze erupted near a fire hydrant and they were able to knock it down before it got out of control.
But investigators believe it was another case of someone flicking a cigarette butt out of their car window.
“It’s a bit maddening,” Sorensen said. “I think by now you’d get it, it’s on the news every day…At this end of the Island, we don’t get lightning, so that really only leaves human-caused by the majority of the fires.”
The fire chief appealed to smokers to think more carefully about tossing their butts by demonstrating how little time it takes for dry grass to catch fire.
In a controlled situation in a Sooke field, grass erupted in flames in under a minute after a smoldering cigarette butt was tossed.
“This is fairly short grass. It’s not tall, it didn’t move at rocket speed, but it was certainly expanding very quickly,” Sorensen said. “You can imagine a 10 minute response time from the time that started, it’s already pretty big. If it’s out in a rural or remote area where it takes some time to get there, it gets into trees, this thing is huge in no time.”
The solution to avoiding brush and wildfires is simple, according to Sorensen.
“Use an ashtray,” he said. “Every car as far as I know still has an ashtray as a feature. If not, get something as a container to put it in.”
Stricter penalties may be the answer because people don’t be appearing to get the message, he said.
Currently in B.C. the fine for throwing a lit smoke out of your car window is only $173.
By comparison, fire-stricken Western Australia issues penalties of up to $25,000 or even a year in jail to anyone caught tossing their smoke.
Clark said talks are in place about beefing up the fines, and could include the possibility of vehicle impoundments if the driver is caught tossing their butt.
“I definitely think it should be harsher,” Sorensen said. “The penalties just aren’t there for the damage that it can cause. It’s not much different than a guy that goes and sets a fire with a match – it still has the same effect.”
The premier predicted costs for this wildfire season, one of the worst in recent years, could reach as high as $400 million.
There have been 116 human-caused fires in the Coastal region alone in 2015, according to the Coastal Fire Centre.
The biggest active wildfire currently burning on Vancouver Island is a 250-hectare blaze near Lizard Lake, which officials said was just 20 per cent contained as of Monday.
With a report from CTV Vancouver Island’s Scott Cunningham
