From Richard Farnham.
SINCERE thanks to all those firefighters who successfully tackled the large furze fire at L’Etacq (JEP, 23 March).

The Fire and Rescue Service say they ‘do not know what caused the fire’. I wonder if the proliferation of cigarette butts on our cliff paths and headlands has anything to do with it?

I regularly walk on the cliff paths on the north coast and over the past year I have noticed a dramatic increase in the number of discarded cigarette butts on the paths, some of which have been discarded in locations a long way from any entrance/exit points, suggesting the cigarettes had been well and truly lit ‘en route’.

Time and time again I come across tourists who are positively staggered by the spellbinding beauty of the coastline in all its glory. I cannot understand why smoking is not banned in areas of outstanding natural beauty – our cliff paths and woodlands in particular – as a serious fire could have devastating consequences for the environment and the Island.

I am certainly not anti-smoking, but I am so when our natural environment is being put so selfishly under threat by presumably a small minority of smokers. Why some people think it is perfectly acceptable to smoke in areas of outstanding natural beauty and abundant wildlife, I cannot comprehend.

Discarded cigarette butts may not have been the cause of the furze fire at L’Etacq, but they will be the cause of countless fires in the future, unless something is done about the problem now.
3 La Tourelle,
Route des Côtes du Nord,
Trinity.