Grab a clue, and an ashtray, for safety’s sake
Spoiler alert – some may ask or wonder why I’m writing about an event that belongs to another emergency service, specifically the Lethbridge Fire Department. The reality is public safety is a very broad term and a large task that requires the co-ordination of Fire, EMS and Police.
There are many issues that impact all of the emergency services simultaneously. The opioid crisis is an example, another is the fire in the coulees on Oct. 17 that quickly spread and threatened parts of the southside. It is believed to have started in the area of the dog park and quickly spread, but the exact cause remains unknown. My hat’s off to all of the emergency service providers who worked together to fight the fire, re-route traffic and go door-todoor advising citizens of a voluntary evacuation and the possibility of a mandatory evacuation had the fire continued to spread. Our fire was only one of several fires that happened in southern Alberta that day. The fires were significant and exacerbated by the high winds and tragically a fire near Hilda, AB claimed the life of volunteer firefighter James Hargrave.
One of the key pieces to “public safety” is the word public. Public safety is not something that can be 100 per cent delegated to the emergency services. All three of the emergency service providers can be greatly assisted and count on the public to do their part in keeping the city safe.
So why am I writing this? One would hope that after Oct. 17 our citizens would be hyper-aware and hypervigilant about doing their part to prevent fires — especially since we still have equally dry conditions and the winds have remained almost constant.
Last Monday evening, I was travelling to the westside and was one of many cars on Bridge Drive waiting to turn onto University Drive. I was about 20 cars back from the light and on the incline of the hill. When the light turned green and the vehicles began to move, I was shocked to see a cigarette come tumbling through the air from somewhere in front of me. I was unable to determine which vehicle the cigarette butt came from but it clearly had to have come from one of the vehicles in the line. Thankfully it was run over, and presumably extinguished, in short order by a truck going the opposite direction. Nevertheless, the traffic travelling down the hill was minimal and I could not help but think without that truck a good gust of wind could have blown that cigarette into the ditch and we could have had another fire. My hope was that it was a one-off, maybe someone passing through who didn’t know about the coulee fire. Those hopes were dashed this week when I heard accounts from several officers on their commute to work who saw the glowing orange of cigarette butts being flicked from vehicles travelling the opposite direction. Similarly, several citizens have shared their stories with me of cigarette butts being tossed from vehicles (unfortunately in all cases, without a plate number to follow up on there was nothing we could do).
Tossing cigarettes out of vehicle windows was even the topic of an inquiry from the public at last week’s meeting of the Lethbridge Police Commission. In that inquiry it was suggested that part of the problem may be that newer cars do not have ashtrays (or as I have seen from our car prowlers, they do but they are used as a place to put one’s loose change and devices rather than their intended purpose).
I am not about to go on and on with what people can be charged with. That takes an investigation and evidence and the courts and time and …ou get the picture. If the devastation of a fire has already occurred, it does little to repair the damage and the punishment will rarely reflect the magnitude of the devastation. Instead, it is more important to focus on awareness and prevention.
I am hoping to appeal to the people flicking their cigarette butts out of their vehicle windows to wake up and use some common sense! These fires are a real threat to public ✦safety.
They are a strain on emergency services, incredibly unpredictable and put our fire fighters at risk. EMS and police are also put at risk as they support the firefighting efforts and ultimately the citizens of Lethbridge are put at risk by something that can, in large part, be prevented.
If your vehicle ashtray is non-existent or it serves as your change holder — use a pop can for an ashtray, plan your smoking before and after driving, get rubber floor matts and extinguish the butt on your floor or go to the Dollar Store and pick up a disposable ashtray you can set in your cup holder. Whatever the solution, use some common sense and pitch in to ensure public safety for the City of Lethbridge.