Cigarette litterbugs targeted
By: JO MORELAND - Staff Writer | ∞
SAN DIEGO ---- Flicking a cigarette butt out a car window, a criminal violation that has started fires, is being targeted by a new effort against tobacco littering, authorities said Thursday in San Diego.
For example, a lit cigarette tossed by a smoker started a $5.3 million blaze that burned 10,353 acres in 2001 in Alpine.
"It is a fire problem," Chief Dave Ott of the Del Mar and Solana Beach fire departments said at a news conference at the San Diego Fire Department's Regional Training Center.
Ott was among fire officials, law enforcement officers and environmental and health representatives who outlined the new "Hold on to Your Butts" campaign.
With dry grass, hot weather and Santa Ana winds causing typical fire hazards at this time of year, they said, the public's help is needed to identify smokers who toss lit cigarettes from vehicles.
People can anonymously report violators on the toll-free (800) NO SMOKE hotline.
Callers will be asked to report the vehicle's license plate number, location and direction of travel, and the date and time of the violation.
The California Highway Patrol will send the registered owner of the vehicle a warning letter, said Chief Robert "Skip" Carter, commander of the Highway Patrol's Border Division.
He said the three Highway Patrol offices in this county, including one in Oceanside, have written 5,367 citations to drivers since 2002 for throwing lit substances onto highways.
First-time violators of the law may be fined from $340 to $1,000. Any firefighting costs would also have to be paid.
Stefanie Sekich of the Surfrider Foundation said about 1.8 billion butts are tossed annually on grounds and beaches in this county.
In one hour last summer, said Candice Porter of the San Dieguito Alliance for a Drug-Free Youth, 6,347 butts were collected on Moonlight Beach in Encinitas.
"We want to eliminate or reduce butt flicking out of the cars in front of businesses and homes so they don't get into our waters," Porter said.
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