Lethbridge firefighters have been busy this summer dealing with a higher-than-average number of residential fires.
Fire investigator, Adam Saturley says a few of these blazes are suspicious, however the majority are just simply preventable.
“We understand the fact that people smoke, but if you do, you have to dispose of cigarettes in the proper manner. Putting them out in little garden planters or any kind of soil or material like that, that’s combustible is just a recipe for a disaster.”
Saturley says there have been around 8 residential fires in the city in the past six weeks alone.
A few of the recent fires (two on Wednesday evening) are suspicious and still under investigation.
“Some people are just not thinking,” says Saturley. “Next thing you know you have a fire that gets away from you. Sometimes people don’t know. They may be driving down a street and throw a cigarette butt out the window and the next thing you know there’s a stretch of grass burning.”