Wildfires raging in Ontario, California and the interior of BC have dominated recent online, print and television news.
Many of the fires started from lightning strikes or other weather-related issues. While nothing can be done about Mother Nature, careless acts leading to some of the incidents can be avoided with due diligence and common sense.
Two youths playing with a lighter caused a fire behind a housing complex in the Glenmore area of Kelowna earlier this week, which required crews, helicopters and an air tanker to stop the flames from advancing into the residential area. The incident put a strain on firefighters battling blazes on a number of fronts in the region, and endangered the public.
Due to the forested area surrounding and within qathet Regional District, extra precautions need to be taken when supervising children, cooking outdoors, using machinery or smoking.
Throwing a cigarette butt out of a car window is an offence on two counts. First of all, littering is despicable at any time of year, regardless of the item, but discarding something smouldering in dry conditions shows a shameful disregard for the environment and safety of residents.
Smoking is an addiction and those affected should receive the same compassion and help, if they want it, as other drug users. But littering and a nonchalant attitude toward fire risk cannot be attributed to an addiction, especially when that littering can possibly lead to a wildfire that puts lives of firefighters at risk as well as threatening properties and businesses.
Littering may be a habit, too, but it should be an easier one to break than smoking. Refraining from tossing a cigarette out of a moving car is unlikely to result in withdrawal symptoms.
As is the case with most issues, a small portion of a group is usually responsible for a large portion of the negativity surrounding it. Not every smoker will drop a cigarette on the sidewalk at a bus stop, then stomp on it haphazardly before stepping on board. An action such as this displays arrogance, disrespect and no regard for the witnesses watching.
Guess what? As the bus pulls away, the butt is still smouldering. All it takes is a gust of wind to push it a few feet into the grass of a park or someone’s home and cause a fire.
For that reason alone, any witness to such an act should hasten to capture it with their phone and present the photo or video to authorities.
Shame the shameful.
