New European regulations came into force this week making it compulsory for all cigarettes sold in the EU to extinguish if they are not actively smoked.
The so-called reduced ignition propensity cigarettes have special bands at intervals down the length of the cigarette paper, so that they extinguish themselves when they are not puffed on. Fire chiefs estimate they could cut the number of smoking related fires and fire deaths by two thirds.
The careless disposal of smoking materials is the most common cause of fire deaths in the UK. According to latest figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government, in 2008 around 2,800 fires in the UK were caused by smoking materials, 101 people died and 932 were injured.
It is estimated the new cigarettes could prevent 1,800 fires, 67 fire deaths and 600 casualties a year in the UK.
Councillor Susan Hall, chairperson of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority’s community safety committee, said:
“Cigarette fires are a killer, destroying lives and properties across the country every day. These new safety standards amount to an all out attack on the single biggest cause of fire deaths in the country.
This is a watershed moment for fire safety in the UK.”
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