A Burning Issue: Cigarette Butts and Fire Risk
Editor’s note (September 2026): This article was originally published in 2020. For current fire-risk information and recent examples, read our 2025 update: https://www.agreenerfuture.ca/blog1/a-burning-issue-cigarette-butts-and-fire-risk-in-2025
When we examine the impact of a cigarette butt on an ecosystem, we usually focus on its physical components, and how they will affect the environment. However, if a cigarette is littered when not fully extinguished, it not only pollutes the environment, but it also becomes a fire hazard. Natural Resources Canada identifies that just over half of wildfires are caused by humans, with the source being anything from campfires, damaged electrical systems, out-of-control burns, or lit cigarettes. They can also be dangerous in the home, as cigarettes and cigarette lighting products are responsible for five percent of house fires in the United States.
Among other adverse environmental impacts, littering a lit cigarette can cause accidental fires.
While cigarette butts are not causing a disproportionate amount of fires compared to other human activities, it is important to understand the potential for risk they hold. They can be particularly dangerous because if a cigarette is left burning, it is not overtly obvious. A fire started from a cigarette can go unnoticed for longer compared to something like a kitchen fire because the fire can start small and out of sight. This is true as well in natural areas, where a cigarette left on a dry and combustible substrate may cause a fire to start as cigarette butts (in the right conditions) can smoulder for days. One alarming example of this happened last summer in Langford, British Columbia, where there were seven small roadside grass and garden fires in seven days due to tossed cigarette butts.
Proper disposal of cigarette butts can prevent accidental fires and cigarette litter.
This is an additional reason why it is so vital for smokers to have proper butt-disposal habits, and for non-smokers to do their best and provide access to receptacles, especially if they are employers, or in high-impact areas. The practice of proper butt disposal is a true “two birds, one stone” situation in preventing both physical pollution and mitigating the risk of fires in natural areas! By encouraging proper butt disposal, we also encourage good habits which people can take home, resulting in a safer (and Greener!) future.
Help us put an end to cigarette litter in Canada
At the time this article was published, A Greener Future had picked up more than 2 million cigarette butts across Canada through The Butt Blitz.
Learn about the current Butt Blitz campaign and ways to participate: https://www.agreenerfuture.ca/the-butt-blitz/
