Citing increased fire danger as well as wanting to further protect the health of children and its citizens, the Burlingame City Council has passed an amendment to the city’s no-smoking ordinance that prohibits smoking in city-owned parks, playgrounds and bayfront trails.
City Attorney Kathleen Kane told SFExaminer.com that with a high risk of wildfires in some areas of the city, such as Mills Canyon Park, a smoking ban was needed to help mitigate dangers of a fire. Additionally, city parking lots were added to the ban to try and curtail toxins and cigarette butts being carried into the city’s water system by stormwater runoff.
Playgrounds were added to the ban in an attempt to reduce the exposure of children to secondhand smoke, according to the report.
In addition to the new areas added to the ban, the ordinance was amended to prohibit smoking areas within 25 feet of those places.
The amendment was passed at the council’s August 18 meeting and will go into effect on September 18. Burlingame is located about 17 miles south of San Francisco and is has a population of just under 30,000 people.