- Author
- Hall, J. R., Jr.
- Title
- U. S. Smoking-Material Fire Problem.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
- USS10, November 2008, 59 p.
- Keywords
- smoking | fire statistics | cigarettes | fire safety | death | injuries | damage | legislation
- Identifiers
- fact sheets; fires started by smoking materials; sidebar from the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes; victim patterns for smokeing material fires; how national estimates are calculated
- Abstract
- In 2006 there were an estimated 142,9008 smoking-material fires in the U.S., up from 135,100 in 2005. These fires resulted in an estimated 780 civilian deaths, 1,660 civilian injuries and $606 million in direct property damage. Upholstered furniture and mattresses and bedding 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. Fewer fatal smoking-material fires start in living rooms, family rooms and dens than in bedrooms. In recent years, Canada and three out of four U.S. states, with four-fifths of the U. S. population, have passed legislation requiring that all cigarettes sold be "fire safe," that is, have sharply reduced ignition strength (ability to start fires), as determined by ASTM Standard E2187-04.