Safe Smoking Habits
If you chose to smoke inside the home, there are certain strategies and products that greatly reduce the risk of an indoor fire from cigarette smoking. Always use deep ashtrays that are steady and will not flip over. The Home Safety Council (www.homesafetycouncil.org) recommends dousing cigarette butts in water before dumping them in the trash, and using “fire-safe” or self-extinguishing cigarettes.According to the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes, fire safe cigarettes have a reduced tendency to burn when left unattended; therefore greatly reducing the risk of a cigarette ignited fire. Some experts estimate that over 1,000 lives could be saved a year with the use of such cigarettes. The use of “fire-safe” cigarettes is already required in New York, California, and Vermont (www.firesafecigarettes.org).
Fire Safe Cigarettes
Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes
See Website: www.firesafecigarettes.org
Lighters are commonly used by smokers and stored in reach of children at home. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), “Children under 5 years old playing with lighters cause more than 5,000 residential fires a year, resulting in approximately 150 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries.” The majority of the children who start fires with lighters are 3 to 4 years old, and are curious about fire but do not understand the dangers. In 1994, the CPSC set a mandatory safety standard that requires disposable lighters and certain novelty lighters to be child-resistant. This covers more than 95% of the 600 million lighters purchased every year in the U.S. (www.cpsc.gov)
Child Resistant Lighters Protect Young Children
See Website: Consumer Product Safety Commission
www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5021.pdf