- Author
- Hall, J. R., Jr.
- Title
- Smoking-Material Fire Problem.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Keywords
- smoking | costs | fire statistics | home fires | structures | cigarettes | fire safety
- Identifiers
- fire started by smoking materials; questions and answers on the fire-safe cigarettes; victim patterns for smoking material fires; how national estimates statistics are calculated
- Abstract
- In 2003, there were an estimated 25,600 smoking-material structure fires in the U.S., down from 29,700 in 2002. These fires resulted in an estimated 760 civilian deaths, 1,520 civilian injuries and $481 million in direct property damage. Mattresses, bedding, and upholstered furniture are the first items ignited for most home structure fatal fires started by smoking materials. One out of four fatal victims of smoking-materials is not the smoker whose cigarette started the fire. More fatal smoking-material fires start in living rooms, family rooms, and dens than in bedrooms. Smoking-material fires that begin outside (22% of fires, 2% of deaths) are much less likely to be fatal than those that begin indoors. In recent years, Canada and six U.S. states - New York, California, Vermont, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts - have required that all cigarettes sold must be "fire safe," that is, have sharply reduced ignition strength (ability to start fires), as determined by ASTM Standard E2187-04.