We don't seem to get it!

[hupur]

Since the kelowna Fire and the 2 westbank fires,grass and hay has been left to grow and dry and grow and dry until we are at a point where any spark can cause a major fire.Why the hell are we not being proactive and cutting it or burning it in small controlled burns in the spring,and removing all the combustible fiber off the banks along the highway.The road between westbank to summerland is a prime example of a fire just waiting to happen,especially just south of Peachland.We have a nearby prison..let em work at cleaning up this crap.

[Queen K]

Agreed!

Right along the corridor from Gordon Dr to Spall is a huge grassoline trap awaiting one cig butt thrown from a car window.

And some people's back alley situations are bad, dry weeds right up to the wood shed. Same scenerio.

So why are we waiting for a disaster?

[seewood]

Every time the ministry tries to conduct a controlled burn for the very reason you have described, the phone lines light up from the few with COPD or asthma wanting them to stop. This has happened numerous times over the years. I believe the ministry has for the most part thrown up their hands and said what's the point of mobilizing everything to get a controlled burn happening when in two hours a few want it put out.

[lightspeed]

We have a nearby prison..let em work at cleaning up this crap.

Felling and forestry would be good skills to have. Could be useful in adapting back to the world after their jail term is up. Good point. But I guess putting them to work is against their "human rights".

[Barney Google]

Agreed!

Right along the corridor from Gordon Dr to Spall is a huge grassoline trap awaiting one cig butt thrown from a car window.

And some people's back alley situations are bad, dry weeds right up to the wood shed. Same scenerio.

So why are we waiting for a disaster?

We've got the same Queen all the way up Hwy 33 from Black Mountain on...waist high dense dry fuel just waiting for a spark

from a vehicle or machine or a tossed butt. A dry fart would set things off.

[Queen K]

Just got back from the bird sanctuary Rotary Marsh.

This time I watched for butts as much as birds. RIGHT ON the boardwalk, there were a couple of discared cigarette butts. And up to seven discarded butts on the pathways, which is to say, mere inches from the dry grasses and thistles.

What is it about smokers throwing their butts everywhere? I mean, ON the board walk? The same board walk used by hundreds of people per day?

[fall]

Felling and forestry would be good skills to have. Could be useful in adapting back to the world after their jail term is up. Good point. But I guess putting them to work is against their "human rights".

They work in Kamloops cleaning up trash alongside the highway.

[hobbyguy]

Unfortunately there will always be folks who never quite figured out how to put their brains in gear.

Friday night some Einstein in our neighborhood decided fireworks would be a good idea. Dried out grass everywhere.

[Queen K]

One good story for you HG,

Yesterday I was in the water at Wood Lake, a man comes from a truck, up to the beach and talks to a woman on a blanket, he is smoking.

I have nothing to do but watch. And wait.

He finished his cig, walked back to the truck and obviously put the cig in something, ashtray?

NOW, if every smoker did that, I would not be counting over a doz butts at Rotary Marsh today. If occured to me that the "NO Tolerance" policy for smokers is NOT working. That sand ashtrays have to come back in public places and fingees need to be crossed in hopes they'll be used. If not by the majority, then by the most.

Think on it: We now have shoot up RVs for addicts so they don't die. Illegal substance ----> enabled.

But for smokers? Where are the public ashtrays? No where. We have zero tolerance policy for people buying legal products and paying tax money.

Go figure.

[GordonH]

Since the kelowna Fire and the 2 westbank fires,grass and hay has been left to grow and dry and grow and dry until we are at a point where any spark can cause a major fire.Why the hell are we not being proactive and cutting it or burning it in small controlled burns in the spring,and removing all the combustible fiber off the banks along the highway.The road between westbank to summerland is a prime example of a fire just waiting to happen,especially just south of Peachland.We have a nearby prison..let em work at cleaning up this crap.

Every year once things dried out we would do a controlled burn around the farm to remove all tall dried dead grass. Of course we had the added benefit of large irrigation system & few hundred feet of used fire hoses with easy connect to the 10 inch mainline.
No chance the fire would ever leave our property

So I hear ya OP

[tsayta]

Just walked. The dogs. Looks like a genius was here first

image hosting private

[hobbyguy]

In the 1960s it was common to see public ashtrays attached to streetlight posts.

But even then, there were dumbos who would just chuck the butts on the sidewalk with an ashtray 5 ft away.

There will always be bogans.

[Silverstarqueen]

Smokers are grown up people who shouldn't need a garbage on every roadside for them to figure out how to dispose of it. No other segment of our society is catered to like that. I am about ready to ban smoking/burning products across the board. There are gums, lozenges, patches, vaporizers, chewing tobackie, why do people have to burn their nicotine? Why are drugstores still selling them when there are so many alternatives?

[Queen K]

If only the evidence proved otherwide Silverstarqueen, if only. Butts everywhere. Beaches? Yup. Hiking trails? Check. Road sides? You bet. Parking lots? Sidewalks? Rotary Marsh wooden walk way? Three. And that's just today. LARGE cigar butt one inch from dry marsh reeds. WHAT is the unsolved mystery of the smoker? The attitude of it all?


Tsayta, great minds and all that, I took several similar photos today of the same aftermath of the genious behavior.
The gene pool needs more chlorine.

[hupur]

I didn't want this to turn into a rant against smokers.Smokers smoke,idiots start fire whether its from a camp fire,cigarette,careless use of fuel,etc.All i'm suggesting is get rid of the dry grass and dead trees and the liklihood of a wildfire is greatly reduced.We just went through a flood and I'm sure we'll be proactive about that next year,but not so certain about it in 5 years.