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Deputy Chief Howard Hoffman 2009 Employee of the Year	Todd Williamson 2009 Volunteer of the Year	Deputy Chief Bill Collins 30 Years of Service

Smoking Material Safety

Smoking materials (i.e. cigarettes, cigars, pipes, etc.) are the leading cause of fire deaths in the United States. Older adults are at the highest risk of death or injury from smoking-material fires even though they are less likely to smoke than younger adults. The most common items first ignited in home smoking-material fire deaths were upholstered furniture, mattresses and bedding.

A United States Fire Administration (USFA) / National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) study recommended seven educational messages to support the behavioral side of a comprehensive strategy to reduce smoking fires:

• If you smoke, smoke outside.
• Whenever you smoke, use deep, wide, sturdy ashtrays. Ashtrays should be set on something sturdy and hard to ignite, like an end table.
• Before you throw out butts and ashes, make sure they are out. Dowsing in water or sand is the best way to do that.
• Check under furniture cushions and in other places people smoke for cigarette butts that may have fallen out of sight.
• Smoking should not be allowed in a home where oxygen is used.
• To prevent a deadly cigarette fire, you have to be alert. You won’t be if you are sleepy, have been drinking, or have taken medicine or other drugs.
• If you smoke, choose fire-safe cigarettes. They are less likely to cause fires.

• FACT: One out of four fatal victims of smoking-materials is not the smoker whose cigarette started the fire.
• FACT: More fatal smoking-material fires start in bedrooms then in living rooms, family rooms and dens.
• FACT: The risk of dying in a home structure fire caused by smoking materials rises with age.

For more information, visit the National Fire Protection Association website, www.nfpa.org.

For additional information on FIRE SAFETY please contact Cindy Wilson, Fire and Life Safety Coordinator at the Minooka Fire Protection District on the weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.