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Brush fire in February? Unreal, firefighters say

Neponset brush fire. Photo by BFD.

A brush fire along the Neponset River this early in the year may not bode well for other fire-prone expanses across the area.

"I am not a meteorologist but I would think the lack of snow cannot be good for the water supply or our landscape," Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said this morning. "At the fire last night, the firefighters were commenting on how unreal it was to be fighting a brush fire in February. As you can see for some of the photos I took last night, the reeds are high. Usually snow would have compacted them until at least the spring."

MacDonald said the location of last night's brush fire, next to the Neponset between Granite Avenue and Dorchester Lower Mills is one of the areas in Boston prone to brush fires. Stony Brook Reservation where Hyde Park, Roslindale and West Roxbury meet, is another potential fire spot, as is the land along the Muddy River and the Fens.

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Comments

Back in November, New England was at full saturation going into the winter - a very dangerous situation for flooding.

The brush fires? Usually later in the spring, but not a sign or drought or water supply as dead vegetation is either dry or dries out quickly.

Now if we could just change that lovely cigarette flinging habit so many local smokers seem to have ...

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Swirly:

I'm not discounting the possibility of this having been caused by a cigarette, but, as explained in the other thread concerning this fire, the location of the neighborhood is off the beaten path and thus doesn't necessarily lend itself to folks passing through and, say, flinging butts from a car window.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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I didn't say this one was caused by a lit cigarette. Most brush fires in this area are - as well as a couple of those wonderful "burn up the outside and wipe out the building" fires in large wooden apartment structures as of late.

The fire folks were noting that the conditions that lead to brush fires are happening right now. These conditions are regional - they are not limited to isolated areas. The way many people fling lit ciggies like the flames vanish magically in flight makes it only a matter of time.

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That cigarette flicking thing that every single smoker on Earth does is a disgrace. Do they think the LIT cigarette that they flick just vanishes into thin air once it leaves their fingers? More likely, they simply don't care. If a person walking down the street just tossed, say, an empty Dunkin' Donuts coffee cup onto the street it might raise eyebrows. Even a gum wrapper. But the cigarette thing is perfectly permissable for unexplained reasons.

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> If a person walking down the street just tossed, say, an empty
> Dunkin' Donuts coffee cup onto the street it might raise
> eyebrows. Even a gum wrapper.

A regular occurrence in many parts of the Boston area. People will drop trash on the ground within a couple of feet of a trash can, rather than taking a step or two and disposing of the trash properly.

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Cigarette flicking out of car window bad, but dangerous to keep it in car as may cause internal car fire or distraction while driving.

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Isn't that what ash trays are for?

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It is called an ash tray.

When I was growing up, my parents smoked and drove through large expanses of forest and rangeland that were highly flammable. They used this miraculous thing called an ash tray to extinguish and retain their smoking materials. Had they done the Masshole Fling, it would not only have endangered the communities we lived in, they would very likely be seen, reported, and heavily fined.

Almost everyone we knew smoked. Everybody had to drive long distances now and again. Everybody used ash trays. Grandma and grandpa even had special heavy ones with magnetic bases that secured and kept the ashes and butts in a fire resistant enclosure, yet could be taken out of the car and cleaned out.

Throw a ciggy out the window in a flammable Western state and you may get a multi-thousand dollar fine in the mail ... or be charged with wrecklessness and made to pay for damages if a fire results.

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I believe you can even be charged with manslaughter, depending on how much press the DA wants to boister their name.

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flick one down a storm drain. You might not like the reaction:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RJCAh7jMFQ

(BTW, is there a way to embed youtube?)

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