ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF SMOKING-2

Fires sparked by careless smokers cost $4.1 million

 

 

BY ALLISON PETERS, EDMONTON JOURNAL MAY 28, 2010

 

 

For people who smoke outside on their decks or balconies, Wayne Pawlowski has a message.

"Don't dispose of your smokers' materials in peat moss planters," Pawlowski, chief of fire investigations, said Thursday.

Improper disposal of cigarettes led to fires that caused $4.1 million in damage in the first five months of 2010.

That's more than the amount of damage caused in the previous two years combined.

Carelessly throwing away cigarettes, matches and other smoking materials has caused 20 fires this year.

The fires have killed one person and injured another.

In 2009, 65 fires caused $1.8 million in damage, and in 2008, $1.9 million in damage was caused by 67 fires.

Pawlowski said tossing a cigarette into a planter filled with peat moss may not immediately start a fire, but the peat will hold heat and continue to smoulder.

That heat could then melt the plastic of a plant pot and start a fire.

"Those fires that are outside, they often go undetected. There's no smoke alarms out there," he said.

The fire may not be noticed until it gets into a house or building or somebody drives by and sees it, Pawlowski added.

Ashtrays or empty coffee tins with sand or water are recommended over plant pots or throwing a cigarette on the ground.

A March fire caused $3.5 million in damage to a condo complex on 116th Street and 107th Avenue.

It was started by the improper disposal of smokers' materials, Pawlowski said.

apeters@thejournal.canwest.com

ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF SMOKING-1

Cigarette butts cause forest fires

News Date: 27th May 2010

Cigarette butts thrown carelessly on forest roads have devastated around 60 hectares of lush forest in Kerala during February and March, the wild-fire season in the state.

According to the data of State Wildlife Department, around four per cent of the forest loss during the period was because of such carelessness.

Apart from cigarettes, lightning, discharge from electric lines, spreading of fire due to careless handling of fire and intentional fire have also caused fire largely across forests

in the state, the data says.

"Cigarette butts caused fire mainly in places near roads in 'kooppu' (place for taking woods from forests using elephants), the in-roads which are used by both tribal and non-tribal people. Match boxes and cigarette packets have been recovered many times from such roads," Chief Conservator of Forest, K J Varghese said.

Many people who went to forest to collect wood, honey or cattle grass would throw away cigarettes without pre-thinking that it could cause a huge fire, he said, adding that such

people caused a loss of around 27 hectare in the present season alone.

This happened despite the wildlife department taking precautionary measures to check the spread of forest fire this year, in consideration of the scorching heat wave and lack of summer showers.

'Vana Samrakshana Samities' and Eco evelopment

Committees had jointly executed various methods in this regard.

According to the Forest Survey of India (FSI), 1,324.59 hectares of forest land has been destroyed in wildfire of which 751.05 hectares was lost in April alone.

In the period between December 2009 and May 2010, 106 fire incidents have been reported across various forests of Kerala, the data says. 

        Courtesy:http://www.businessghana.com