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wednesday, august 9 Join the fun! #PiratePakDay
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2017
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NEWS: New education minister sets eyes on Richmond schools 3 n Ron Mahy leads a group of motorcyclists in the third-annual memorial ride in Richmond Saturday in honour of his daughter Christy Mahy, who was 36 years old when she was struck and killed by an SUV on Sea Island in 2014. No charges have yet been laid in connection with the incident. Photo by Boaz Joseph/Special to the Richmond News
Richmond ablaze with butts
Only city in North America where cigarettes the No. 1 fire starter PAULACARLSON Contributor
I
t’s official: Richmond is smoking hot. And it’s not a good thing. With temperatures heating up and hazy skies reminding residents that the province’s Interior wildfires are not that far away from the Lower Mainland, Richmond Fire-Rescue is issuing an urgent warning about discarded cigarettes, which are now the number-one cause of fires in the city. Firefighters are currently having to respond to more than two cigarette-started fires each day, said Richmond Fire-Rescue spokesperson Capt. Brian MacLeod. During the first 25 days of July, fire crews responded to 55 blazes caused by carelessly discarded cigarettes and other smokers’ materials, such as matches, lighters and pipes. “These statistics are alarming and an
anomaly to the City of Richmond,” MacLeod said. “We aren’t aware of anywhere else in North America where smoking materials are attributed as the number-one cause of fires.” Cooking usually the main fire culprit, he said, and those blazes are accidental. Cigarette fires are almost 100 per cent preventable, said MacLeod, and as far as he’s concerned, discarding cigarettes improperly amounts to negligence. Butts are being tossed out of car windows (MacLeod noted new vehicles don’t come equipped with ashtrays anymore so incidents are on the rise), thrown on the ground and flicked off condo balconies. “This is especially problematic in Richmond with the older buildings,” he said. Richmond crews attend three fire calls a day on average and smoking-related blazes are now accounting for more than two-thirds of the responses, MacLeod said. These same types of fires accounted for just 43 per cent of all fires in Richmond in
2016. Cigarette fires entail sending out a truck, a minimum fire crew of four, and sometimes an inspector to ensure the fire doesn’t continue to smoulder under bark mulch or peat moss. “That truck is now taken out of service and can’t respond to other emergency calls,” MacLeod said. With the current tinder-dry conditions, people need to alter their behaviour immediately, said Richmond Fire Chief John McGowan. “We need to make a change and it needs to happen right now,” McGowan said. “Regardless of how the fires start, carelessly discarded smokers’ material fires are almost always preventable with care.” Due to the continued high fire risk, a number of trails in Richmond have been closed and all open air burning is completely prohibited in the city. See City page 4
COMMUNITY: Kwantlen Rubber offers four-pack course duck races to raise funds for wildfire victims 21
SPORTS Ch SPORTS: Chuckers k fi finish i h second at Bantam AAA 23 provincials
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