Careless Smoking Can Cause Fires

Many people smoke cigarettes because of their ability to induce pleasure and relieve anxiety, even though cigarettes are dangerous to their health and the environment. Second-hand smoke can kill anyone with constant exposure, and a tossed out cigarette butt can cause even more deaths by igniting dry brush on the ground. Although not many people think about their cigarette after they flick it out of their car window, studies have shown that cigarette butts may be the cause of several devastating fires that have occurred all throughout the United States.

Although a small cigarette butt seems pretty harmless, it can ignite a huge fire under the right conditions. The weather plays a huge role in whether or not a fire can be started with a discarded cigarette butt, as well as recent weather that has also occurred. The fuel moisture content on the ground needs to be under 7% for a cigarette to start a fire, and can easily occur in places with little to no humidity. Wind speed can also trigger a cigarette butt to cause a fire, since the cherry of the cigarette can move faster when winds are fast.

The condition of the cigarette can also determine whether or not a fire will occur, since a moist or loose cigarette will not be able to keep a flame long enough for a fire to occur. Cigarettes that are broken up from either the wind or the street when discarded at a high speed are less likely to cause a fire, but not all cigarettes will break when thrown out of a moving car. The most important factor that will determine whether or not a fire will start from a cigarette butt is the fuel available, since a fire needs fuel in order to maintain itself and grow. Rotten wood, decomposed plant material, and even pine needles are great examples of fuel for a fire, since the dry conditions make it possible for the fire to survive and spread through large surfaces.