With B.C. on track for a record fire season, firefighters in the interior aren’t the only ones with their hands full.
Firefighters in Surrey have already responded to 256 separate brush and grass fires since May 1, many of them caused by cigarette butts.
LISTEN: Surrey firefighters launch education campaign around discarded cigarettes
That’s prompted the Surrey Fire Service to go on the offensive, with a new campaign aimed at smokers.
Firefighters are placing signs in high traffic areas, medians and entrances to a park trail will remind smokers that crews have responded to a preventable fire at that location, and that they should use an ashtray.
“The signs are intended to increase public awareness and create more buy in from people who might be not thinking about what they’re doing when they’re throwing their cigarette out and how they’re throwing that out,” said Assistant Chief Fire Prevention Jason Cairney.
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“We want to point out that this has happened at this location and that it was most likely caused by this, and then please use your smoking materials responsibly.”
Cairney said the city is also cracking down on fire risks – including careless smokers – and enforcing a zero tolerance for burning in public places.
“We have safety patrols going through our parks looking for people who are burning, smoking or camping in those parks and then they can apply those fines as needed,” Cairney said.
A Surrey bylaw fines people who improperly dispose of smoking materials $200 — but RCMP can also levy fines upwards of $500 for tossed cigarettes.