Warnings about discarded cigarette butts amid fire risk in B.C.

Vancouver resident Yasmin Schepens likes turning popular songs into catchy advocacy anthems, urging people to safely dispose of their cigarette butts and protect the environment.

"That was also my main thing to catch people's attention with humour instead of sort of shocking them with all this information," she told CBC News.

Schepens, founder of the Buttwatch campaign which highlights the environmental impact of cigarette butts has turned the Ghostbusters theme song into a trailer for her own 'buttwatchers' campaign. Now, she's working on a new parody tune, Butt It,inspired by Michael Jackson's Beat It.

"You better throw that butt in the bin, or I'll show you some discipline,"she belts out in a verse from Butt It. "The fire in your butt might light the whole woods, so butt it, just butt it."

With more than150 wildfires raging in the province after a week of extreme heat and lightning strikes, the Buttwatch campaigner emphasizes the urgent need to raise awareness about how easily discarded cigarette butts can ignite a blaze.

Just last week, Richmond RCMP put out a brush fire nearthe CF Richmond Centre mall, which they believe was caused by a discarded cigarette butt. They areurgingpeople to be vigilant and take extra precautions to prevent fires.

"This incident highlights the importance of properly handling ignited articles such as cigarette butts," said Insp.Mike Roberts, an operations officer with the Richmond RCMP.

WATCH | Vancouver smokers explain how they properly dispose of their butts:

How peer pressure could help stub out Vancouver's cigarette litter problem

10 months ago

Duration 0:35

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in Vancouver, the city says. A key way to stopping that is through peer pressure, says Patrick Chauo, a solid waste engineer with the city.

"With the current dry weather, even a small spark can lead to a potentially dangerous situation."

In B.C., the majority of wildfires each year are caused by lightning, according to the provincial government. Human activities including carelessness, such as flicking a cigarette butt out the car window or not fully putting out a campfire, make up the remainder.

Butts and fires

B.C. Wildfire service blamedsmoking or smoking materialsfor the 2017'sElephant Hills wildfirenear Ashcroft, about 340 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. The fire, which lastedabout 75 days, burnedmore than191,000hectares of forest, destroyedmore than 100 homes and causedmore than $1billion worth ofdamage.

Lit cigarettes are among the biggest causes of fires in Vancouver parks, according to the city's park board.

And there are lots of cigarette butts around. The City of Vancouver, which consultedUniversity of Waterloo research, estimatedmore than 400,000 butts from residents alone end up as litter in the city everyday.

Discarding cigarette butts on the ground is subject to a littering fine of between $250 and $10,000 under a street and traffic bylaw. However,not manyfines wereissuedbetween 2020 to 2023.

In an attempt to cut down on the problem of discarded butts, the cityhas on-the-go cigarette butt containers, called pocket ashtrays, available for free at most community centres and policestations.

While Schepens agrees the pocket ashtrays are a great way to avoid cigarette butts from ending up in park grounds and beaches, she saidthe city should domore.

"It would help if the parks had some sort of a garbage bin just for cigarette butts only because some people do not want to throw the cigarette butts in the garbage bin because they think it might set a fire."

The campaigneralso wants people to start collecting cigarette butts like she does andnotedbuttscan be recycled.

According to Buttwatch's website, butts can be shippedto a company calledTerracycleto be recycled.