Another Cigarette?

[LoneWolf_53]

Disclaimer: The following post is not intended to target all smokers, just the ones who feel entitled enough to toss lit cigarettes out automobile windows, in the desert, during a heat wave!

[Donald G]

I like your style there Lone Wolf.

[Dizzy1]

This is my take on the subject.

Should smokers be taxed? No. First reason being that it punishes the responsible smokers for no justification. Second reason, taxes never seem to go where they are supposed to go.

Should there be a smoking ban in parks while there is a campfire ban? Absolutely. I've seen that done in US Parks as well as in Mediterranean countries and what is fair is fair.

Should punishment for discarding a cigarette and leaving a campfire unattended be higher? Absolutely, in fact I'd go as far as suggesting it carry the same punishment as arson if it were to cause a fire.

[westbankkid]

Looks like another possible cigarette fire. http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... htm#143765

The statement from the West Kelowna fire chief when asked about it said well it wasn't by lightning...We saw another one attended by the department on Elliot this afternoon.

If someone is convicted of throwing a butt out the window should get automatic jail time. Be a damn good incentive not to do it.

[Donald G]

To westbankkid ...

Instead of jail how about those who flick cigarettes out the window or neglect to put out their campfire be given a certain marked area of grass, underbrush and bush to clean out along the roadway. I am sure that it would help them see the hazard of their action up close.

[Atomoa]

Idiot on Horizon threw a cig out the car window, fire doesn't start on the side of the road by itself.

Advise everyone to honk, take down plates and follow and report all these clowns throwing butts out of cars and trucks. I still see people doing it.

[MAPearce]

Do the Yoga?

Yeah, the Yoga..... or the Pilates stuff...

Brain dead grass eaters, all o them

[Farmmaa]

Easy enough to blame smokers, but in reality, they are not the major source of forest fires.
Perhaps people are ignorant of all of the things that can easily spark a fire in these conditions....power tools - sparks from mowers, cutting blades, grinders: overheated tailpipes, chains dragging from vehicles or trailers, kids playing with matches or lighters, broken glass in the ditch, campfires, guns, trash burning, arson, the list is endless.

But, by all means, tax smokers and make them pay for it...because how else could a fire start, right ?

[Gixxer]

Easy enough to blame smokers, but in reality, they are not the major source of forest fires.
Perhaps people are ignorant of all of the things that can easily spark a fire in these conditions....power tools - sparks from mowers, cutting blades, grinders: overheated tailpipes, chains dragging from vehicles or trailers, kids playing with matches or lighters, broken glass in the ditch, campfires, guns, trash burning, arson, the list is endless.

But, by all means, tax smokers and make them pay for it...because how else could a fire start, right ?

Sounds like your making excuses and justifying smokers that flick butts. But in reality smokers that have flicked butts have started fires, fires that have destroyed communities, killed people, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

[mexi cali]

Easy enough to blame smokers, but in reality, they are not the major source of forest fires.
Perhaps people are ignorant of all of the things that can easily spark a fire in these conditions....power tools - sparks from mowers, cutting blades, grinders: overheated tailpipes, chains dragging from vehicles or trailers, kids playing with matches or lighters, broken glass in the ditch, campfires, guns, trash burning, arson, the list is endless.

But, by all means, tax smokers and make them pay for it...because how else could a fire start, right ?

I think that about 17 pages ago, most of us agreed that while smokers are not the largest contributors to forest fires, they are right up there. In fact, so you know where we all are now, it is agreed (I think) that unattended camp fires cause more fires than discarded butts.

However, please at this late stage don't attempt to set the thread back by picking on every other heat source out there. Yes, we know that the list of items you note are potential fire starters but of the 3 local fires of recent history, the likelihood of them being started by discarded butts is high if only because of their very close proximity to roadways.

It's kind of like asking if a broken car window at a ballpark was caused by a baseball even though nobody actually saw the ball go through the window.

Or a flooded yard was caused by an open hose but by the time it was discovered, the hose had been turned off.

Or the big pile of doggy poop in your yard was deposited by your next door neighbors Dalmatian even though you didn't see him hunkered down.

Could you emphatically state in a court of law if asked under sworn testimony that the 3 fires in question were started by tossed cigarette butts? Nope. But in your heart, you know that the probability is very high that they were but because you smoke and are sensitive to the abuse and scorn leveled at smokers and that you are secretly ashamed that you haven't been able to kick the habit, you deflect and offer far less likely solutions.

Let's poll this thread and ask of the folks who are the most passionate about fires being caused in any way other than cigarette butts, how many of them smoke?

I say all.

[Dizzy1]

It's kind of like asking if a broken car window at a ballpark was caused by a baseball even though nobody actually saw the ball go through the window.

Or a flooded yard was caused by an open hose but by the time it was discovered, the hose had been turned off.

Or the big pile of doggy poop in your yard was deposited by your next door neighbors Dalmatian even though you didn't see him hunkered down.

Yet that's exactly what some of you are doing in this thread. Simply assuming it was a cigarette with no evidence to establish the cause. Some of us are simply saying that the source of ignition could have been something else and then all of a sudden its "deflecting".

Its one thing to provide links to stories/fires where the cause has been determined, but to simply say that it "probably" was is just as much of an assumption as saying it was caused by something else.

[kgcayenne]

One frustrating thing is the lack of disclosure, as it takes time to find the cause. By then, a news reporting agency isn't interested because there is no sense of urgency and other more 'click-generating' news stories are more important to them. I learned at a fire prevention meeting held for strata corporations that a majority of 7 multi-family structure fires in our community were ignited by careless smokers improperly disposing of their cigarettes. Only two of those cases had been identified in news stories as having been cigarette caused, and it was only because of the immediacy of admission by the culprits. Additionally, there are many fires in hedging and landscaping that had never been reported, which I learned because one individual stood up and said "Since we removed bark mulch from our landscaping, we've had no more fires started by cigarettes."

Aw heck, maybe some of you participating in this thread were at that meeting.

[dieseluphammerdown]

Could you emphatically state in a court of law if asked under sworn testimony that the 3 fires in question were started by tossed cigarette butts? Nope. But in your heart, you know that the probability is very high that they were but because you smoke and are sensitive to the abuse and scorn leveled at smokers and that you are secretly ashamed that you haven't been able to kick the habit, you deflect and offer far less likely solutions.

Let's poll this thread and ask of the folks who are the most passionate about fires being caused in any way other than cigarette butts, how many of them smoke?

I say all.

So you admit that anti smokers scorn and abuse people simply because they smoke? NICE, so how does it feel to be part of the bullying crowd?
So which habit is worse smoking and causing harm to one's self? or ganging up on people and bullying them to see things your way when it comes to what should be a personal choice.!! Last time I looked smoking was legal, but the high and mighty anti smoking crowd see's it differently and would rather bully than accept.
Nothing to be ashamed of for being a smoker, but lots to be ashamed of for being a bully.!

[mexi cali]

TIC my friend, TIC.

[mexi cali]

And I see you chose to not answer my question.