Nanaimo’s fire chief is calling on smokers to keep their cigarette butts out of the grass following a rash of brush fires.

There were almost a dozen burning complaints in the region over the weekend.

Fire chief Craig Richardson said many of them were caused by improperly discarded cigarettes.

"We're really encouraging people to be mindful about that - particularly when driving, not throwing cigarettes out windows. The other thing we start to see is people extinguishing cigarettes in potted plants and planters that have dry material in them. Often those smoulder for some time before they turn into a fire," he said.

Open burning is not allowed within Nanaimo city limits, with the exception of cooking fires that must be 60 centimetres in diameter or less.

The fire danger rating in Nanaimo currently stands at a four out of five – something that typically happens later in the summer.

“The province is suggesting we're going to have a near normal summer, but that's all dependent on rain and precipitation we might see in June,” Richardson added.