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• Switch to fire-safe cigarettes delayed until 2011  

Although dozens of laws passed by Missouri lawmakers took effect at midnight Thursday, there's one law that will be delayed for a couple of years -- fire-safe cigarettes.

The measure, passed in the spring, requires cigarettes sold in the state to be near self-extinguishing.

To sell down existing stock, cigarette retailers and wholesalers will have until Jan. 1, 2011, to bring inventory in line with the new law, State Fire Marshall Randy Cole said.

Two fatalities resulted from cigarette-related fires in 2007 in Missouri, Cole said. Another seven were injured and $2.5 million in property damage resulted from cigarette fires the same year. No deaths could be directly attributed to cigarettes that failed to extinguish during the last three years in Boone County, said Gale Blomenkamp, Boone County Fire Protection District division chief. . . .

All states except Wyoming have adopted fire-safe cigarette laws, though 16 states, including Missouri, have delayed implementation until 2010 or 2011, according to the national Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.

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