聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 The other day there was a fire at a house in Swift Current. The Swift Current Fire Department handled it, but the house was completely destroyed and one of the houses beside it also caught fire.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Apparently, this is how it happened according to the woman who lived in the house: 鈥淔ire inspectors determined the cause of the fire based on eliminating other factors like electrical problems, arson, nobody wanting to harm us, etc鈥� They think it must be accidental, from a spark of a cigarette or something that was exacerbated by the 55 km/hr winds.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 She and her daughter were inside, both napping upstairs. Two people they knew happened to be in the neighbourhood attending a garage sale and ran into the house to check if the mom and daughter were home. Those individuals woke the two, grabbed the family dog and a few jackets, and rushed the mother and daughter out of the house. Within four minutes the house was engulfed in flames, absolutely everything they owned was gone.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Businesses and many people in the community came together in an attempt to help the family get back on their feet, but despite the replaceable material items there are how many family heirlooms, photo albums, etc鈥� that are gone forever鈥� all because someone potentially flicked a cigarette butt into some dry brush near the house.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 First off I don鈥檛 like smoking in general; cigarette smoke to me is a disgusting smell. I can handle cigar smoke and love the smell of a bonfire, but cigarettes are simply gross to me and usually cause a coughing fit as I walk by鈥� sometimes on purpose I even indulge the coughing fit as a group of cheerleaders at the U of L were outside a set of main doors forcing people to walk through their cloud of smoke to get inside. I was less than impressed, so allowed my coughing to be a little louder than usual. If you smoke fine, but I don鈥檛 go and blow bubble gum bubbles in your face so please don鈥檛 puff smoke in mine.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I will say that the majority of people are considerate and will go downwind from the group they鈥檙e with or stand out of the way of main doors to buildings.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It鈥檚 also associated with lung cancer, which I watched my grandfather pass away from when I was young.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 However despite the usual health concerns or not liking the smell, you鈥檝e got something that is literally on fire and you decide to just flick it off into the distance or out the car window, why? There鈥檚 an ashtray in your car, you can put it out in there and empty it later or if you want to toss it out the window at least put it out in your ashtray before tossing it. If you鈥檙e walking with it, take it a little further and put it out on pavement or wait 鈥榯il you come up to one of those canisters for cigarette butts鈥� especially in such a dry year!
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We haven鈥檛 had any snow and there鈥檚 been very little rain, things are dry, especially after a few days of 50 km/hr winds. Pretty much all of Saskatchewan is a tinder box right now and that goes for a fair amount of Canada in general too.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, if you smoke I really don鈥檛 care, but please realize that you need to take care. By simply flicking a butt out your window or away while walking there鈥檚 a chance it can set a fire and for that family in Swift it almost meant their lives.
