Carelessness with lit cigarette butt costs B.C. motorist $575

An Abbotsford driver has learned the hard way it isn't wise to flick lit cigarette butts out the window at the height of wildfire season.

The unidentified motorist received a fine Tuesday for $575 under the Wildfire Actafter an officer witnessed the butt-tossing, according to Abbotsford police Sgt. Judy Bird.

"We're all at risk for smouldering cigarettes causing bushfires," Bird said.

First responders say those fires put the lives of the public and firefighters at risk.

"We attend multiple structure fires and human-caused fire tragedies every year when people discard smoking materials in dry plant pots outside their dwelling, in landscape bark mulch and dry grass," AbbotsfordDeputy Fire Chief Jeff Adams said in a news release.

Abbotsford police are asking anyone who witnesses a butt being tossed from a car or dropped on the ground in an area where a fire could start to call (star) 5555 or 1-800-663-5555.