Tobacco.org

• State Fire Commissioner Praises Passage of Fire-Safe Cigarettes Legislation 

Once signed into law, House Bill 1612 will adopt a fire safety standard for cigarettes and require that all cigarettes sold in Pennsylvania be low-ignition strength, making them less likely to cause fires if left unattended.

"Fire-safe cigarettes are rolled with bands of less porous, slow-burning paper, so if the cigarette is left unattended, it will go out when it burns down to one of those bands," said State Fire Commissioner Edward A. Mann. "There have been too many tragedies caused by the careless use of cigarettes, and this standard is designed to reduce that risk."

According to the National Fire Protection Association, smoking materials, such as cigarettes, cigars or pipes, are the leading cause of fire deaths in the United States.

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Chattanooga: Airport Inn fire loss estimated at $750,000 

Chattanooga fire officials have estimated the dollar loss at about $750,000 from Monday’s fire at the Airport Inn on Lee Highway. ... The exact cause may never be confirmed, Mr. Garner said.

However, Lt. Moore said many cigarette butts were found in the area where the fire started.

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Cigarette May Have Started $750,000 Motel Fire 

Fire investigators say a discarded cigarette may have started the fire at a Chattanooga motel yesterday, although they may never know for sure.

Spokesperson Bruce Garners says they estimate $750,000 in damage. Lieutenant Anthony Moore with the Fire Investigation Division said 8 to 10 rooms were damaged by fire or water. Some adjacent rooms sustained smoke damage.

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Centennial mulls smoking ban 

ASPEN — A smoking ban is being contemplated throughout all privately owned condominiums at Centennial after two recent cigarette-caused fires broke out there and at another Aspen affordable-housing complex. ... The ban, which will be discussed by the condominium association board Tuesday, comes in response to a fire that broke out at the Castle Ridge apartment complex on June 10. A smoldering cigarette left in potting soil on a balcony destroyed a building and left 17 people homeless.

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Complex may ban people from smoking in their homes 

Now, after two fires in two weeks at his condo complex, both started by cigarettes left in flower boxes, Pekkaon and other home owners there may also be facing a smoking ban in their homes. ... Both fires were back in June; one left 17 people homeless.

President of the Centennial Condominium Association Ed Cook says he and several home owners are looking at putting a ban on smoking in or around the 92 individually-owned condos because of the fires.

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Cigarette butts cited in fire trend  

The city's fire marshal saw cigarette butts overflowing from a plastic ice cream bucket of sand and water. A discarded butt caught fire, aided by the other butts, and burned until a fire was raging on a second-story balcony at 1323 Second St. NE.

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Exploding Van on Tape 

One second, a man is lighting up his cigarette while driving in Hialeah, Florida. The next, his van explodes.

And it's all caught on video.

The flash-fire and flying debris wreaked havoc through the day.

A home video taken by a neighbor shows the van on fire right after the explosion. . . .

Hialeah fire officials said the van's driver was a welder who had gasoline and oxygen tanks in the vehicle.

The mixture exploded when he decided to light a smoke.

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After party, sleeping guest's cigarette starts fire 

Residents of a house on Fifth Avenue East woke early Friday morning to find a 22-year-old guest from a keg party had fallen asleep on a couch with a lit cigarette, causing the couch and parts of the ceiling to catch fire, according to the Duluth Fire Department.

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Arby's Fire Blamed On Tossed Cigarette 

A cigarette tossed into driedout mulch started a fire Wednesday morning that heavily damaged Arby's restaurant on Fifth Street Highway in Muhlenberg Township

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Van Explodes As Driver Lights Cigarette  

A van exploded while driving down a South Florida street Thursday, and it was all caught on tape.

It started as a typical commute to work for the man driving the van, which police said was filled with gas tanks and welding equipment.

According to police, the man lit a cigarette, which ignited fumes from the gas tanks, causing the van to blow apart on the street.

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Investigators: Discarded Cigarette Sparks Fire 

A discarded cigarette is believed to have sparked a fire in an apartment on the 200 block of Pershing Avenue in York Thursday afternoon, firefighters said.

Hundreds of discarded cigarette butts were found inside the apartment where the fire started, investigators said.

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Lit cigarette ignites fume-filled van; driver lives 

Melvin Gonzalez, a welder, was motoring through Hialeah early Thursday morning in a van filled with with gasoline, acetylene, compressed oxygen and other tools of his trade.

He lit a cigarette. The van exploded.

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Duluth Hillside Fire Caused By Careless Smoking  

A cigarette is to blame for a fire at a Duluth Hillside residence early Friday morning.

Duluth fire crews were dispatched to 726 N. 5th Ave. E. on a report of a couch on fire in the building's basement. . . .

A 22 year old male guest of the renters said he fell asleep on the couch while smoking a cigarette.

The $130,000 structure suffered an estimated $5,000 dollars in damage, including melted wiring in the basement ceiling.

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Smoking Ruled As Cause Of Crystal Fire 

A Minnesota family that was trying to cool off on a hot night lost their home Monday evening.

According to the West Metro Fire-Rescue District, improper disposal of smoking material started a fire at a home on the 3400 block of Louisiana Avenue in Crystal.

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Cigarette sparks brush fire 

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