As we all watch with heartbreak, forests across B.C. are burning out of control – destroying homes and businesses, while thousands of hectares of forests go up in flames.
Thousands of British Columbians have been forced from their homes, evacuated to 11 emergency centres set up across the province, including one in Cloverdale.
Of the more than 650 wildfires in B.C. since the beginning of 2017, more than half are believed to have been human-caused, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service. That means more than half were easily preventable.
In Surrey, firefighters have fought 59 brush fires in the past 10 days, and 203 grass fires since May 1st. Most were completely preventable and – you guessed it – started by smokers chucking their smouldering cigarette butts.
Despite ‘extreme’ fire conditions and a widely publicized provincial campfire ban, there is a percentage of the population that displays a flagrant disregard for the good of the whole. These people will always do what they selfishly want to do, in this case, having a campfire or not making the effort to properly discard a cigarette.
The blatant disregard too many are showing must be met with more severe consequences. It’s very much a me-first attitude that plagues us.
We can’t control Mother Nature – but we can control our actions.
The province should lay a heavy hand on those who continue to snub their noses at the fire bans and people who are too lazy to properly throw away a cigarette butt.
Now-Leader
