Officials checking for fire-safe cigarettes

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November 15, 2009

Whether or not smokers like it, beginning Jan. 1, 2010 Oklahoma retailers will only be allowed to sell fire safe cigarettes.

“Some folks don’t like the fire safe cigarettes, primarily because they go out and they (smokers) get tired of sitting there and relighting them,” said Oklahoma State Fire Marshal Tommie Rhoades.

But this inconvenience must be weighed against the National Fire Protection Association statistics that show that “30,000 fires every year across the United States are attributed to cigarettes and smoking related material,” Rhoades said, adding that “from those 30,000 fires, we have 700 to 900 fatalities.”

“We also have firefighters lose their lives fighting those fires,” the fire marshal said.

It is in consideration of these lives that the state legislature passed the Fire Safety Standard and Firefighter Protection Act, which went into effect earlier this year, Rhoades said.

EDUCATING ABOUT THE LAW

This act is similar to other legislation already in effect or scheduled to take effect soon in 48 other states, he said, noting that Wyoming is still working on developing legislation.

“The intent of the legislation, not only in Oklahoma but in the other states as well, is to reduce the number of fires caused by cigarettes as well as reduce the number of deaths from those fires,” Rhoades said.

As part of the first phase of the act, the fire marshal said that as of Jan. 1, 2010 cigarette wholesalers can no longer purchase cigarettes that are not fire safe, which is also referred to as ‘non-FSC.’ The ‘FSC’ stands for fire standard complaint.

However, the wholesalers, and retailers as well, have until the end of the year to sell off or otherwise get rid of any remaining non-FSC cigarettes they have in their inventories, Rhoades said.

Starting back in July, Rhoades and three other fire marshal agents across the state began visiting vendors in their respective quadrants to help educate them about the changes in the law.

“Everybody should know what the law is; there is a chain of information from the wholesaler to the retailer,” Rhoades said. “However, I’ve run across people who really don’t.”

So as part of his visit to the retailers, he said he “generally meet(s) with the manager or whoever is in charge” and shows them “how to ID a pack or carton for fire safe compliance.”

“I’ll do a random inspection of their inventory and point out a compliant pack and, if I see one, I point out a non-compliant pack as well,” he said, noting that if the cigarettes are fire safe, the letters ‘FSC’ will be stamped somewhere near the bar code on the pack and/or carton.

In addition, Rhoades said when meeting with retailers, he “inform(s) them of the timeline and how much longer they have to get rid of any non-FSC cigarettes they may have in their inventory.”

“Basically, I like to say we’re in the educational mode right now rather than the active enforcement mode,” the fire marshal said. “We’ll really begin enforcement after Jan. 1, 2010. At that time non-FSC cigarettes will be considered illegal contraband and they can be fined up to $500 per pack.”

HOW THE NEW CIGARETTES CAN SAVE LIVES

“A fire safe cigarette is one that is manufactured using a special type of banded paper,” according to information provided by Rhoades. “Each cigarette has several bands around it at various locations down the length of the cigarette. These bands are made of less porous paper than the remainder of the rolling paper and are not conducive to burning without sufficient oxygen ... .”

This means that “without positive pressure bringing oxygen through the cigarette by someone actively puffing on it, it will go out,” Rhoades said.

This helps prevent fires and therefore prevent loss of life, he said, because “by going out, it’s not allowing the cigarette to build enough heat to catch surrounding material on fire.”

“You don’t drop a cigarette down on grass or a sofa and it just immediately start a fire,” Rhoades said. “It happens over 20 minutes or 20 hours until the cigarette creates enough heat to start a fire.”

So by going out “within a matter of a couple of minutes,” he said those within the fire service “feel like they (FSC cigarettes) go out quick enough before they can start a fire.”