Daily Doc: TI, Sep 18, 1986: TI 'Fire Safety Program' And Increased Fire Deaths


Daily Doc: TI 'Fire Safety Program' And Increased Fire Deaths


Title: Increase in Fire Deaths and Losses
TI, Sep 18, 1986
Bates #: TIOK0013544

October 12, 2000

Four years after the Tobacco Institute started its "Fire Safety Program," the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reported that the rate of fire deaths in the United States had jumped by an astounding 20% in residences and 18% overall ("the largest one-year jump in decades") showing that the Institute's vastly expensive "Fire Safety program" had been a dismal failure at reducing fires. Remember, however, that reducing fires was not a goal of the Institute's "fire safety" program. Rather, the goal was to give the appearance (to the public and especially to legislators) that the industry was concerned about accidental fire deaths. At this the TI's program succeeded admirably, at least enough to continue receiving funding.

Today's document is a letter from the president of Tri Data Corp. to the Tobacco Institue and Covington and Burling that reflects the Institute's primary area of concern about these statistics. Note that concern was not the increase in cigarette-related fire deaths proper, but the possibility that these deaths would spawn more fire-safe cigarette legislation:
"NFPA has just released the latest (1985) fire statistics. The news is very bad. Fire deaths jumped up in 1985, by 20% in residences and 18% overall. This is the largest one-year jump in decades...

We can assume...that deaths from careless smoking will be sharply higher, too. Since smoke detectors are perceived by the fire service as close to saturating the market, there may well be pressure to turn to new approaches -- like fire safe cigarettes."
CITATION
Title: Increase in Fire Deaths and Losses
Type of Document: Letter
Author: Schaeman, P (TriData Corp.)
Recipient: Sparber, P, Stuntz S of the Tobacco Institute and Rupp J of Covington and Burling
Date: 19860918
Site: Tobacco Institute document site http://www.tobaccoinstitute.com/
Page Count 1
Bates No. TIOK0013544
URL: http://my.tobaccodocuments.org/tdo/view.cfm?CitID=184897&GetListArrayIdx=62&ShowImages=yes
Litigation Usage: None yet
Found Using Search Criteria: "Sparber and fire" (on TDO)


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Anne Landman, Regional Program Coordinator
American Lung Association of Colorado, West Region Office
Grand Junction, CO
(970) 245-2120
afoxland@gj.net
This document's URL is: http://www.tobacco.org/Documents/dd/ddtifiresafetyprog.html

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