Thrown Cigarette Butt Ignites Smoker's Car

[Are_grits_groceries]

DENVER -- A man who had just moved from Florida to Denver will be looking for a new car after his caught fire and burned Thursday.

Zach Schultz told 7News that he was driving southbound on Colorado Boulevard, near Interstate 70, shortly after noon when he attempted to throw a cigarette he had been smoking out the window of his older model station wagon.

Schultz, 25, said the wind blew the cigarette back into his car, catching it on fire.

Denver firefighters closed the southbound lanes of Colorado for a time so they could fight the fire, which sent black smoke billowing into the sky.

The car was a total loss.



http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/20077448/detail.html

Heh! Karma.........

[Donnachaidh]

1. classic case of shit happens

I'd like to know if he had his rear windows open. Because flicking a butt with the back windows open is just asking for a fire...

[stray cat]

15. maybe people should use an ashtray in their car and keep it to themselves

[Donnachaidh]

19. most of the newer cars aren't equipped with ashtrays

Older models, yes.

[TorchTheWitch]

22. then hold it until it goes out and throw it away

in your car trash can... simple.

[northernlights]

25. Right. Much better that he keep the back window closed

so he can flick his lighted butt out the window, potentially start a forest fire, and destroy many innocent people's, animal's, tree's and plant's lives. :eyes:

[northernlights]

26. Or even better, do what happened to a friend

when some asshole apparently flicked his butt into her horse trailer, causing *it* to catch fire.

And burn her pregnant, just rescued, BLM mare alive. So she got to pull over, try to get the mare out of the fire in time, and stand by the side of the highway with a pregnant dying mare in agony for 2 hours while she waited for a vet to come and euthanize her.

Fucking filthy assholes should keep their filthy, murderous habits TO THEMSELVES.

[TorchTheWitch]

idiot - don't throw lit cigs out the window

use the ashtray or keep holding it until it extinguishes by itself.

[KittyWampus]

13. isn't this how some wildfires start?

[TorchTheWitch]

18. throwing a lit cig out the window? Of course

Tossing anything on fire somewhere may cause a fire. It's kind of a no-brainer.

[JerseygirlCT]

29. I'm always amazed at how many people, who might not just throw

any litter otherwise, seem to think it's fine to toss their butts anywhere.

[Ian David]

2. The world is not your ashtray. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

3. If only others learn this lesson. But unlikely!

Someday this will be a thing of the past when smoking becomes obsolete.

[CrispyQ]

4. I'm glad his car was totaled. Stupid fuck.

You don't throw lit cigs out the window. You don't throw anything out the window, but especially a lit cig. We had a lot more rain in June than we usually get, so things are still nice & green, but typically, by mid-July in Colorado, everything is brown & crisp & a spark away from going up in flame.

[onehandle]

5. Cigarette butts are the most polluted item in the world and do not biodegrade.

I would hope they ticketed the guy for this, but I guess it may have been "attempted littering."

[izquierdista]

11. Everything biodegrades

The more you learn about the natural world, the more you run into lichens, fungi, and bacteria that can break down and eat plastic, crude oil, concrete, and yes, even cigarette butts.

[onehandle]

27. Not by waste disposal definition.

Billions of butts stacking up on billions more in a ever-repeating 10 to 25 year cycle.

[izquierdista]

30. Waste disposal is medieval

There is little science or engineering involved in modern "waste disposal". Instead of flinging a bucket of shit out of a wooden window, we now have trucks pick up the buckets of shit and they are buried downwind and out of sight. Not an improvement except in the aesthetic sense.

[Obamanaut]

16. According to one report I read, 8 - 15 years for the filters to biodegrade. nt

[Buzz Clik]

6. There's nothing in the interior of my car that is that flammable.

What the hell was he carrying?

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. I want to know how long that cig smoldered

No way would you get an instant fire unless it lit something very flammable.

[Kalyke]

8. Sounds more like a problem with the car.

Most cars have carpet that is treated with something that extinguishes the flame.

And, karma??? Come on! Wishing ill on someone because they have an addiction isn't very progressive.

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. The man smokes.

That's his business. Throwing a lit cigarette out of a car can be a major problem.

[MH1]

10. not because he has an addiction

but because he thinks it's ok to throw a lit cigarette butt out the window of a car.

Big difference.

Altho I guess you could say it's awful to wish ill on someone for being an idiot or a jackass or both, and you have a point. But then no one is wishing ill, the ill already happened and some are just pointing out that it was somewhat deserved.

[Berry Cool]

12. Also, it could have flown into someone else's car.

A lot of times, these people who toss still-lit butts don't think of where the thing will land.

I once saw a guy toss out a still-lit butt into a trash can downtown. It soon lit off the other trash it landed on and the whole top of the can was ablaze.

[TorchTheWitch]

21. That happens a lot

I've had all kinds of crap tossed into my car accidently by rude people who think the world is their garbage can. Including lit cigs.

I'm a smoker, and I smoke more often in my car than probably anywhere else. But I'm not going to throw lit or unlit butts out the window when I can use the ashtray put there for that purpose, and if the ashtray is full I'll hold the butt till it extinguishes itself and put it in my car trash bag. I can't understand why people can't just have a trash recepticle in their car and think it's ok to just toss their trash out in the world.

[RayOfHope]

33. It happened to me n/t

[TorchTheWitch]

24. the problem is the rude idiot

I smoke and don't throw lit or unlit cigs out the window. If the ashtray is too full I'll hold the butt till it goes out and put it in my car trash can. Simple.

[northernlights]

32. he's addicted to littering little firestarters? nt

[HopeHoops]

14. Serves him right.

I don't think this applies in his case, but I have noticed a strong correlation between the cost of a car and its apparent lack of an ashtray.

Anyway, he deserved what he got. Tossed cigarettes have been responsible for massive fires burning countless acres and homes. That should be an offense with an automatic 1 year license suspension.

[CanonRay]

17. Just what we need in Colorado

another asshole. Why the fuck can't he stay in Florida?

[Vickers]

23. Sorry, he's YOURS now.

:P

[City Lights]

20. Way to go, moran!

:eyes:

[Blue For You]

28. My father did the same thing with a '55 Buick once.

He pulled over and removed the back seat as it went up in flames. He just threw the seat in the ditch, and off we went.

[Sebastian Doyle]

31. Better his car than half the Rocky Mountains

I'm sure the Phillip Morris shills will hate me for this, but I'd bet most of these so called "wildfires" are caused by irresponsible tobacco addicts like this fool.

[TexasObserver]

34. Planes, Trains and Automobiles!! John Candy RIP.