Be careful where you toss that butt.

That reminder from Ottawa firefighters after they responded to a rash of fires this week all believed to be caused by burning cigarette butts.

On Sunday, firefighters responded to the Black Dog Bistro in Manotick. A neighbour noticed smoke coming from underneath the front porch, right beside where the owners have installed two outdoor cigarette ashtray systems. The restaurant was closed at the time. “It could have been someone driving by,” says owner Kristin Janz. “It could have been someone who was at another establishment somewhere and just in a big rush. But they do have to take that time to put the butt out.” Janz credits the quick-thinking neighbour for grabbing a hose and keeping the damage to a minimum.

On Wednesday, it was a home on Reynolds Drive in Orleans where a cigarette butt started a fire in a compost pile.

On Thursday a major fire on Abaca Way in Stittsville burned two townhouse units and caused heat and smoke damage to two more. Two families have had to leave their homes. Investigators determined the source was a cigarette butt in a flower pot on a back deck.

And on Friday almost a repeat of the same tragic scenario. A neighbour noticed a burning planter in a backyard on Salzburg Drive in Orleans, about 15 feet from the house. Fortunately, it was put out right away.

It’s an all-too-common problem for Ottawa firefighters, especially when the weather turns warm and more smokers head outside. “In Ottawa we see at least 30 to 40 fires started as a result of carelessly discarded cigarettes,” says Marc Messier of Ottawa Fire Services.

There’s little they can do except remind smokers to be extra careful. Planters can contain flammable peat moss and wood chips. And butts dropped on roads and sidewalks can easily be blown by the wind to something flammable like a deck or dry grass.

Messier recommends smokers at home use a metal can filled with sand or water to extinguish their butts.

Or they can do what countless office buildings and businesses have done and get a specially-designed stainless steel outdoor ashtray system. Ottawa businessman Gerry Johnson is the creator of the “Butt Stop” – an enclosed cigarette butt receptacle used across Ottawa and around North America. He also sells a home version. “A hundred bucks solves the problem,” he says. “Return on investment? There’s no insurance claims.”