Cigarette butt receptacles ordered for condo, apartment
balconies
CBC News
15 June 2015
Edmonton Fire Rescue Services will require all condo and apartment
buildings to supply proper receptacles for cigarette butts if
management has not outright prohibited smoking.
In the last five years, cigarettes sparked 97 fires on condo and
apartment balconies, tallying $45M in damage, said fire chief Ken Block.
That includes the Clareview condo complex fire in May sparked by
cigarette butt discarded into a diaper pail, which left more than 300
people without a home.
"Fires caused by the improper disposal of smoking material are
completely preventable, and yet are the cause of some of our city's
most dangerous and devastating fires," Block said in a news release
Monday.
Over the next few months, Edmonton Fire Rescue will get word out to all
condo associations and apartment owners to place the enclosed ashtrays
on every balcony.
The estimated cost for each receptacle is between $25 and $100.
At the same time, Edmonton Fire Rescue and Alberta Municipal Affairs
are initiating a campaign, Stub it Right, Don't Ignite, to instruct
smokers how to properly dispose of cigarettes butts.
"I am personally asking Edmontonians to take responsibility for their
actions related to fire use," Block said. "If you are going to smoke,
it must be disposed of in a proper receptacle. Let's work harder to
keep each other safe."
Deron Bilous, Alberta minister of municipal affairs, said seven Albertans died in fires sparked by smokers last year.
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