- Author
- Hall, J. R., Jr.
- Title
- Smoking-Material Fire Problem.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
- USS10, November 2007, 62 p.
- Keywords
- smoking | fire statistics | cigarettes | death | injuries | costs | fire damage | damage | home fires | legislation | fire safety
- Identifiers
- smoking material fire problem fact sheet; fires started by smoking materials; sidebar from the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes; victim patterns for smoking material fires; how national estimates statistics are calculated
- Abstract
- Smoking-material fires are a major cause of concern because they result in more deaths than any other type of fire. In 2005, civilian deaths in smoking-related fires continued at roughly the levels of previous years, as normal year-to-year variation overshadowed any positive developments in New York, the first state to require fire-safe cigarettes. Smoking materials continued to account for the largest share of fire deaths. Realistically, any efforts to reduce fire deaths in this country must address the smoking-material fire problem. (In this analysis, "smoking materials" refer only to lighted tobacco products, not matches or lighters.) In 2005, there were an estimated 82,400 smoking-material fires in the U.S., up from 69,500 in 2004. These fires resulted in an estimated 800 civilian deaths, 1,660 civilian injuries and $575 million in direct property damage, all up from the year before. The long-term trend has been down, by 75% from 1980 to 2005, helped by the decline in smoking and by the effect of standards and regulations that have made mattresses and upholstered furniture more resistant to cigarette ignition. Mattresses and bedding, upholstered furniture, and trash are the items most commonly ignited in smoking-material home fires. These items excluding trash also account for most associated fire deaths. More fatal smoking-material fires start in living rooms, family rooms, and dens than in bedrooms. One out of four fatal victims of smoking-material fires is not the smoker whose cigarette started the fire.The risk of dying in a home structure fire caused by smoking materials rises with age. One-third (34%) of fatal home smoking-material-fire victims were age 65 or older, compared to their 12% share of the population. Older adults (age 65 and over) are less likely to smoke than younger adults. Therefore, their high rates of smoking-material fire deaths per million people are even more noteworthy. A USFA/NFPA study recommended seven educational messages to support the behavioral side of a comprehensive strategy to reduce smoking fires.