I used to smoke and I would stamp it out, although I have never lived in a dry region. I have heard from several places that it is very, very easy to start a fire. A ember can travel hundreds of metres, a single spark could well ignite dry grass. The recent Cali wildfires had such embers taken with the wind, which was a cause of the rapid spread in the Palisades iirc.
Sometimes its not even so much the general dryness of the region, and more just about airflow. Even in relatively humid places, if it’s windy you can pretty easily have cigarette embers start a fire.
Dry regions are more dangerous once there is already a fire, because the ground is so dry. For example here in Colorado you really have to try to put out a fire. You cant just piss on it and walk away. Even if you put out the fire with a large amount of water, some of it can still burn hot under the ground for days afterwards.
The opposite end of the scale, where its humid but very windy, you are not going to have a fire burn underground for days. But you will have more chance of fire spreading quickly due to the wind. At that point its mostly about types of vegetation and whatnot. Some vegetation burns quick and easy, some do not
Probably the most likely place for someone to start a fire with a cigarette would be somewhere like the plains. Brush vegetation goes up pretty fast, and its generally a base level of windy all the time. Once when I was driving there were either chain sparks or a passenger throwing cigs out the window starting brush fires on the side of the road. We would see one, call it in, and then see another one 5 miles down the road, and then another
I used to smoke and I would stamp it out, although I have never lived in a dry region. I have heard from several places that it is very, very easy to start a fire. A ember can travel hundreds of metres, a single spark could well ignite dry grass. The recent Cali wildfires had such embers taken with the wind, which was a cause of the rapid spread in the Palisades iirc.
Edit: report
Sometimes its not even so much the general dryness of the region, and more just about airflow. Even in relatively humid places, if it’s windy you can pretty easily have cigarette embers start a fire.
Dry regions are more dangerous once there is already a fire, because the ground is so dry. For example here in Colorado you really have to try to put out a fire. You cant just piss on it and walk away. Even if you put out the fire with a large amount of water, some of it can still burn hot under the ground for days afterwards.
The opposite end of the scale, where its humid but very windy, you are not going to have a fire burn underground for days. But you will have more chance of fire spreading quickly due to the wind. At that point its mostly about types of vegetation and whatnot. Some vegetation burns quick and easy, some do not
Probably the most likely place for someone to start a fire with a cigarette would be somewhere like the plains. Brush vegetation goes up pretty fast, and its generally a base level of windy all the time. Once when I was driving there were either chain sparks or a passenger throwing cigs out the window starting brush fires on the side of the road. We would see one, call it in, and then see another one 5 miles down the road, and then another
Wow never knew it could be so powerful. That’s like a cluster bomb of fire.