Reducing hazard — 04/06/08

Sat, May 17 2008

— Just days before the end of the 2008 Kentucky General Assembly, a law passed by the 2007 General Assembly has just taken effect. The result should be fewer deaths and injuries from house fires by eliminating one of the major causes of such fires: Burning cigarettes left unattended.
As of April 1, only “fire-safe cigarettes” can be sold in Kentucky. Twenty-three other states also require that only fire-safe cigarettes are sold in them.
A fire-safe cigarette is less likely to burn when left unattended. Typically, the cigarette has several bands of thicker paper that act as “speed bumps” to slow down the burning of the cigarette. If the cigarette is not puffed, it will extinguish itself when it burns down to one of the bands.
The Kentucky Office of Housing, Building and Construction, the agency that includes the State Fire Marshal’s staff, was the chief proponent of the new law when it was making its way through the General Asasembly in 2007. That office’s executive director — Richard Moloney — said, “We’re confident that this legislation will pay immediate dividends. Unfortunately, Kentucky ranks ninth in the nation in fire-related deaths. We believe this law will reduce the number of such deaths.”
A pack containing fire-safe cigarettes can be identified with the letters “FSC” or “FC,” signifying fire standards compliance. Those should be the only cigarettes now on the shelf in Kentucky.
Smokers should not rely solely on fire-safe cigarettes to avert a fire, Moloney said. “First and foremost, a smoker should always properly extinguish his or her cigarette. A moment of carelessness can lead to tragedy.”
He’s right, of course. Puffing a safer cigarette is no reason to be foolishly reckless.