- Author
-
Hall, J. R., Jr.
- Title
- Smoking-Material Fire Problem.
- Coporate
- National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA
- Report
-
USS10,
March 2010,
47 p.
- Keywords
-
smoking
|
cigarettes
|
fire statistics
|
fire safety
|
death
|
injuries
|
damage
|
legislation
- Identifiers
- sidebar from the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes; victim patterns for smokeing material fires; how national estimates are calculated
- Abstract
- In 2007, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 140,700 smoking-material fires in the U.S., down from 147,400 in 2006. These fires resulted in an estimated 720 civilian deaths, 1,580 civilian injuries and $530 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. Most fatal smoking-material fires started in living rooms, family rooms, and dens or in bedrooms. In recent years, Canada and all U.S. states 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.