A week after a fire on Richmond’s Shell Road Trail startled neighbours and re-ignited wildfire fears, Richmond Fire-Rescue and nearby residents are urging people to not drop cigarette butts in public parks.
Richmond Fire-Rescue has not yet responded to a request to confirm the cause of the Aug. 21 fire, but Brian MacLeod, community relations officer, says it was most likely human-caused.
“In those regions of the city there are no electrical wires running through … and we haven’t had weather to indicate it was caused by lightning strikes,” he told the Richmond News.
The fire took 17 firefighters more than seven hours to extinguish, and snarled traffic on Blundell Road.
Since then, a sign has appeared in the damaged area saying a preventable fire occurred there. It displays an image forbidding people from dropping cigarettes above the logo for Richmond Fire-Rescue’s anti-butt dropping campaign, The World Is Not Your Ashtray.
Seann Sheriland, who lives nearby, rode his bike past the burned area on Shell Road Trail on Sunday. He noticed most of the charred vegetation was on the west side of the trail, near some blueberry farms.
“I feel sorry for the blueberry farmers,” he said. “If the fire had spread they would have lost their crops. It would have been pretty devastating.”
He photographed the damage, as well as cigarette butts he saw at the entrance to the trail.
He’s glad for the sign from Richmond Fire-Rescue asking people not to drop cigarette butts, which can ignite dry foliage. He only wishes people would listen.
“It only takes one cigarette,” he said. “Just one. That’s all that’s needed.”
MacLeod said that even though Richmond has seen some rain since the fire, it’s not enough to bring the fire risk under control.
“(When) we go for walks in our nice parks we should really take the extra effort to make sure we don’t harm them in any way,” he said.
