Smokers reminded to safely dispose of butts during dry heat

As temperatures reach near 30 degrees at the end of what could be the driest May ever in Regina, the city’s fire marshal is reminding smokers to safely dispose of their cigarettes or joints.

Randy Ryba said in the last 12 months, 15 residential fires were caused by the unsafe disposal of smoker’s material. Although no one was hurt in those fires, they caused a total of more than $1 million in damage.

“There’s a number of ways we can prevent this and it’s very easily preventable,” said Ryba.

Drivers are told not to toss cigarette butts out their car windows. Ryba said if you’re at home enjoying the sunshine, do not dispose of your smokes in a flower pot. Those contain peat moss, which can smolder for hours.

“We’ve had many fires caused by that,” Ryba said. “That ignites the side of the pot and then the side of your house or the side of your deck.”

Residents are encouraged to instead use a small metal container filled with some sand to keep it from blowing away.

“We’ve had everything from plastic milk jugs being used as a container to cardboard pie plates,” said Ryba. “When the wind comes up, (the butt) is ejected out of the ashtray or whatever you’re using for an ashtray, onto the deck, under the deck, against the house and we have issues.”

Given the extremely dry conditions, Ryba said if the city doesn’t see more rain soon, Regina might have to declare a fire ban.

Ryba continues to monitor the situation and said the bit of rain that fell on Saturday didn’t go very far in providing much moisture. He said while the city needs a solid two or three days of rainfall, there is some good news.

“Right now we have some luxury of the grass is still green from the moisture that was in the soil,” he said. “When the urban interface grass starts to turn brown, we will be making some decisions.”