# Oklahoma fires started by.....you guessed it **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 20, 2000, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862 "2000-09-20T13:49:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RonA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@RonA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RonA)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/1 "2000-09-20T13:49:11Z")
Last night, fires raged across the state of Oklahoma, causing untold damage to forests, homes, and property. As of late yesterday, there are no reported fatalities, but there are several injuries. Here’s the daily paper with a bunch of articles. [www.oklahoman.com](http://www.oklahoman.com) One of the fires **was set intentionally**. At least one of the other fires may have been set by someone **throwing a lit cigarette out of the car**. If you want to smoke, that’s fine; that’s your decision, and you certainly have the right to do so. But if you throw your lit cigarette out the car window **YOU ARE A FUCKING MORON.** For everyone that does this, I hope you laid awake all night wondering if it was YOUR cigarette that caused all the damage and personal injury. The paper reports that the Oklahoma City area has gone 52 days without rain. Personally, I think its been longer than that. But the state is DRY. Everything is parched. We have been under a state-wide fire ban for weeks. AND YOU THROW YOUR FUCKING CIGARETTE OUT YOUR CAR WINDOW??? What kind of idiot are you? In case you aren’t smart enought to figure it out, your car comes equipped with something called an ASH-TRAY. Put your used smoking material THERE. Don’t start the whole state on fire. Don’t you realize the damage you have done? Not just to forests and wildlife, but to homes and people. Idiot. I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/2 "2000-09-20T13:56:04Z")
This performance was informative yet angry, the OP didn’t really get in enough expletives and I think that will affect the judges scores… The Canadian judge gives it a 5. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/3 "2000-09-20T16:12:21Z")
Tell on, my brother. ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/67e7ee/32.png) [@Lazarus7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazarus7)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/4 "2000-09-21T11:27:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Feynn \* > \*\*This performance was informative yet angry, the OP didn’t really get in enough expletives and I think that will affect the judges scores… > > The Canadian judge gives it a 5. \*\* What the fuck is with dopers swooping in to judge the freaking pit posts? Are you all a bunch of panty sucking, knob gobbling, egotistical, wakked out fecal worms? Who the freak swooped in and made you instant pit post judge? … Cecil should bust a cap off in your ass !! - oh … did I say that in my outside voice? \* ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/5 "2000-09-21T11:32:04Z")
Not to bad Lazarus7. I’ll give it a 7.5. \< d&r \> ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/67e7ee/32.png) [@Lazarus7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazarus7)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/6 "2000-09-21T11:39:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimbo \* > \*\*Not to bad Lazarus7. > > I’ll give it a 7.5. > > \< d&r \> \*\* grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr _chuckle_ Sometimes you just can’t win! _smile_ … or can you? ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/7 "2000-09-21T11:51:43Z")
> [@](#): > > In case you aren’t smart enought to figure it out, your car comes equipped with something called an ASH-TRAY. Eewww. If you put cigs out in that your coinage would get all yucky. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/8 "2000-09-21T11:55:33Z")
The new beatle doesn’t have an ashtray. It does have a place to put a flower though 🆒 … eeerr I mean :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/9 "2000-09-21T12:03:38Z")
Isn’t it the New Be **e** tle? Unless they finally found a replacement for Lennon, of course. Wow. From Oklahoma to Lennon in 8 posts. We are SO gifted. ---
**Author:** ![poohpah\_chalupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@poohpah\_chalupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poohpah_chalupa)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/10 "2000-09-21T22:21:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RonA \* > **…your car comes equipped with something called an ASH-TRAY. Put your used smoking material THERE.** But…that would mean dirtying up _my car_. C’mon, I mean, _rillly_. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/11 "2000-09-22T00:28:28Z")
Ever stop to think just how many **TONS** of cigarette butts are thrown out of cars or dropped in public places **every day**? Now go on to consider how many of those cigarette butts start some sort of fire. Now think of all of the firefighters who have lost their lives rescuing someone who was smoking in bed. **NOW** remember of the fact that cigarettes are chemically treated to continue burning once they have been lit (you burn more cigarettes that way). I have seen so **few** considerate smokers who actually make sure that their butt is disposed of properly that it makes it very difficult for me to imagine that most tobacco smokers are anything more than mindless drugged out zombies. ::…patting pockets…:: Er, anyone got a match? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/12 "2000-09-22T08:28:14Z")
To my knowledge, nobody has ever started a forest fire by throwing a lit joint out of a car window. ---
**Author:** ![Delta-9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@Delta-9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delta-9)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/13 "2000-09-22T15:09:34Z")
Because a lit joint is an unfinished joint. ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/14 "2000-09-22T16:46:05Z")
And it takes too much effort to throw it. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/15 "2000-09-22T17:10:43Z")
Is there really any evidence to suggest it was from a tossed butt? I doubt it, that’s probably the guess of last resort. Can they really look at a burnt-out forest next to a road and pick out the ash that was a tossed lit butt from the ash that was tossed extinguished butts? ---
**Author:** ![stofsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@stofsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stofsky)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/16 "2000-09-22T19:18:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\*I have seen so **few** considerate smokers who actually make sure that their butt is disposed of properly that it makes it very difficult for me to imagine that most tobacco smokers are anything more than mindless drugged out zombies. \*\* Maybe that’s because you don’t notice the huge majority who do dispose of them properly? Why would you see the person who puts it out in the ashtray or on the sole of his or her shoe, carrying the butt to the nearest trashcan? Mind you, I’ve been known to flick a butt or two onto the sidewalk, but I try to remember my manners. However, before you judge all smokers try to pay attention to all of them, not just the ones who piss you off. If I missed that this was a joke (the match comment I didn’t quote), sorry. Just redirect this to the nearest smoke-free nazi. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/17 "2000-09-23T01:39:00Z")
My brother throws his butts out the window because he _“doesn’t want them stinking up his car!”_ 😕 :mad: He _ **breathes** _ the crap, fer cryin’ out loud! _Major_ WTF?? Inconsiderate slob. ---
**Author:** ![don\_Jaime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b4bc9f/32.png) [@don\_Jaime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_Jaime)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/18 "2000-09-23T05:03:01Z")
God, I hate living in Oklahoma. This is, without question, the most wretched excuse for a state in the whole country, except for Baja, of course. And it’s not enough to support a superhigh tax structure with one of the lowest incomes on average, or try to take pride in being the Teen Pregnancy and Trailer Trash Capital of the Universe, or endure the missionizing antics of the holiest rollers in the Bible Belt, or spending $1.50 to drive to Tulsa on a four-lane no matter which direction you go at it. We have drown for six months and then watch the rain disappear completely for two months. The lush, stickery tallgrass of June has dried to the point of being declared a mineral instead of a vegetable. Add in our infamous winds and you have a state-wide barbeque waiting to happen. Even God doesn’t know why we aren’t having more fires. We’ve almost had two where I work from still-burning butts that were caught before they were blown out of the disposal can and into the brush. Ordinarily these puny heat sources wouldn’t start a fire, but right now a smoldering cigarette butt can generate as much flame as the Space Shuttle’s butt. And speaking of smoldering butts, who wants theirs? Do you have any concept of how grating it is to live in the National Dump, taking crap off of the East Coast and Califonia and the damned Bajeños, without Canadians and Europeans dogpiling, too? Wanna make some silly joke about the “Oklahoma is OK!” license plates that were discontinued fifteen years ago? Piss off, ya dipshits. At least your egg-sucking tourist-trap home turf stands a decent chance of not being incinerated. We had to close the main highway between DFW and OKC over a cigarette butt. Don’t like it? I don’t either, and neither does Ron (Cool, another Doper from OK!). Just nod and say DAMN THET DRY SPELL, or SHUT THE HELL UP! ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-fires-started-by-you-guessed-it/33862/19 "2000-09-24T11:42:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don Jaime \* > **God, I hate living in Oklahoma. This is, without question, the most wretched excuse for a state in the whole country, except for Baja, of course.** How’s the educational system?