Despite a record-breaking wildfire season that’s scorched more than 10,600 square kilometres of woodland across British Columbia, officials say some smokers continue to be careless about their cigarette butts.

A truck driver in Langford, B.C., was charged $575 on Thursday for tossing the remnants of his cigarette out the window -- a fine that the driver called “insane,” according to the officer on the scene.

The fine may seem harsh, but Const. Alex Berube with the West Shore RCMP said he was simply working within the framework of the law. Last year the province got tougher on tossed butts and deemed the fines a wildfire-related offence.

In 2016, 153 people received tickets ranging from $307 to $1,150 related to the offence.

“We see this on a daily basis, even when we’re off duty,” Berube told CTV News Channel on Friday.

Berube, who is also a media relations officer for the force, decided to share the experience online to raise awareness on how dangerous tossing a cigarette can be. He posted a photo of the ticket on Twitter, writing “Cig butt out the window is simply wrong and ILLEGAL.” 

Berube said the driver told him it was the second time he’s been charged for tossing a cigarette butt.

“This is as serious as it gets,” Berube said.

Manmade fires have kept B.C. firefighters busy this summer. In a single weekend in July, about 20 of 30 or so wildfires were believed to be caused by human activity, such as tossed cigarette butts and smoldering campfires, the BC Wildfire Service said at the time.

In Vancouver, the city has introduced a $500 fine for tossing “smoking material in a hazardous way.”

B.C. has remained under a province-wide state of emergency since July 7 in what officials have called one of the worst wildfires seasons in the province’s history.

A municipal leader in the fire-ravaged Cariboo Regional District said Friday he wouldn’t be surprised if the wildfires won’t be fully extinguished until 2018.