The Cost of Carelessness: Fines and fires
By Lynne Bell
In the wake of the Fort McMurray wildfires-which have displaced over 80,000 people, destroyed large parts of the city, stalled industry, and have set a new record for damage and destruction-Alberta's Minister of Forestry has stated that current fines for human fire starters are “not steep enough” and should be raised substantially.
Oneil Carlier told the CBC that the current Alberta fine of $5,000 for burning an outdoor fire without due care and attention-for individuals and corporations-should be raised. Carter suggests that the penalty for a person who starts a wildfire be increased to fines of $100,000 for individuals and $1 million for corporations.
“It's a good deterrent,” said Carlier. “I think it's resonating with people. I think Albertans want to be safe, they want to keep themselves safe, their communities, their fellow citizens.”
Although the cause of the Fort Mac fires are unknown at the time of writing, this forest fire season seems to -unfortunately-be threatening to rival last year's wildfire warnings on the Prairies, when raging fires resulted in mass evacuations throughout northern Saskatchewan.
This has prompted some provinces to re-examine the penalties they will mete out in the interest of preventing fires caused by human error and/or negligence.
In Saskatchewan, punishments in the province's Wildfires Act are currently some of the toughest in the country and are the template for Alberta's propsed changes. Individuals are fined a maximum of $500,000 “for each day or part of a day during which the offence continues,” and/or imprisonment for up to three years. And corporations are fined up to $1 million per day or part of a day, during which the fire continues.
However, in spite of these tough punishments, a recent fire in Swift Current destroyed three homes. No one has been arrested, but fire officials have determined that the blaze was caused by a smoldering cigarette butt tossed on the nearby ground-and the individual responsible may not even be aware that their actions caused this fire.
One of the most newsworthy penalities for careless fire-starting behaviors comes from British Columbia. When B.C.'s provincial government first raised the idea-last summer- of vehicle seizures for anyone who threw a cigarette butt out of a car, public opinion ran the gamut from: “About time!” to “Unconstitutional.”
At the time, the B.C. Goverment said in a press release: “This wildfire season has been one of the most challenging in recent memory. As of July 14, 2015, fire crews have responded to 1,083 fires throughout the province-compared to 523 at the same time a year ago. Of those fires, we know over one-third are human caused. That's 375 fires, leading to an estimated 43,718 hectares going up in flames.”
The document acknowledged that most people are “respectful, careful people who help protect our forests from devastating wildfires. But there are still too many individuals who haven't heard the message and continue to make careless decisions that lead to wildfires.”
With another dry summer forecast on the Prairies, governments are doing their utmost to manage the threat of wildfires-logistically and legally. And most people are using common sense and caution, too.
In the words of Mike Morris from B.C.'s Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations: “Naturally occurring fires from sources like lightning are difficult enough for our dedicated firefighters to handle. If we're going to continue to ask them to put their lives on the line to keep people and property safe, we need to do everything we can to end behaviors that lead to needless wildfires.”
Increase the fines
By Kelly Running
The other day I was speaking with someone who had helped with a garbage cleanup in and around Carlyle. The statement they made regarding the cleanup was that she couldn’t believe how many empty cigarette packs and disposable coffee cups were in the ditches.
It seems as though people would rather discard their trash from a window than hang onto it for a few more kilometres to discard it in a rubbish bin, whether at home, a gas station, or some other stop.
Not only does it seem like smokers discard their empty packs, but a lot of time people will flip a cigarette butt out the window and oftentimes there’s no problem other than they have littered, however, in dry conditions a smouldering cigarette butt can cause a much larger problem: fire.
Up until the day I write this the entirety of the Prairie Provinces were under a red, high risk zone for fire. Thankfully we’re getting rain now, but while we were watching the Fort McMurray fires and were worried about the potential elsewhere on the prairies, Lynne happened to find an article stating that in British Columbia a new law was being looked at.
The new law would increase penalties related to fire offences. It would go so far as to increase fines for failing to extinguish a campfire properly, ban people who have campfire when fire bans are on from provincial parks, and even impound the vehicles of people who flick cigarette butts out of their windows as they’re driving along.
Fire, although used by mother nature to create new life – prairie grasses are never as green as they are when the regrowth after a fire begins – the element can be extremely destructive as we’ve seen in Fort McMurray and as a few families saw in Swift Current not long ago as fire took one house and damaged two others. The cause in Swift was likely a cigarette butt tossed to the wayside by someone.
So, when I look at the harsher laws regarding fire laws in B.C. it makes me think that it might be for the best considering just how damaging one small cigarette butt or a stray spark can be.
Some people think that the potential B.C. changes are a little bit strong and are simply too much, but when you look at how damaging fire can be, is it really that far out there? How else do you get people to stop doing something than with a hard line like impounding a vehicle?
I don’t smoke, so the law wouldn’t affect me, but if you smoke in your vehicle why not just use the little ashtray in there and hang onto the cigarette butt until you can dispose of things safely? I don’t get why you’d just toss something that although seemingly insignificant can actually cause that much damage.
As far as ensuring fires are out and abiding by fire ban laws, I would have to also say I agree. I enjoy camping and campfires are one of my favourite things about camping. I absolutely love the heat it gives off during the summer night, the smell, and watching the flames dancing through the night. But, I know that a fire can smoulder if not properly put out and that fire bans exist for a reason – safety – which means that to ignore them is to risk your life and everyone else’s in the area where you are.
So, up the fines and hopefully stop the perpetrators because although they are few and far between it only takes one to cause the damage.
