5,000 pocket ashtrays will be offered to customers of 17 of the 19 tobacco shops in Sète.
A preventive action carried out with the firefighters of Sdis 34 in partnership with the National Confederation of tobacconists.
The same operation is carried out in Gironde, around the Arcachon basin.
The goal: to raise awareness of the risks associated with forest fires and the pollution generated by cigarette butts thrown into public spaces.
A VINCI Autoroutes study found that, on average, 100 cigarette butts are thrown away every day per kilometer and per direction of traffic on the motorway.
The motorway company has launched a vast campaign called StopMégots, to be discovered at six motorway rest areas in the Mediterranean.
In one week, 136 interventions by the Hérault firefighters for natural space fires
While humans are directly responsible for 90% of fire starts, there are many examples of dramatic fires caused by cigarette butts.
As in August 2021, when the fire in Gonfaron, in the Var, caused the death of two people and ravaged 7,000 hectares of forest.
It was due to a cigarette butt thrown negligently by a smoker in an area of the A8 motorway.
Languedoc has been plagued by multiple fire outbreaks for several weeks.
The largest, in the Cévennes, devastated 650 hectares of forest.
But it is on a daily basis that firefighters are confronted with fire starts in natural areas: 136 in the Hérault department for the week of July 4 to 10 alone.
Planet
Gard: July 14 fireworks canceled in Nîmes and other towns
Company
Gard: A village bans smoking in part of the town to avoid fires
Planet
Fire
Sete
Montpellier
Cigarette
Occitania
Languedoc Roussillon