- Careless smoking is the second leading cause of fire deaths
- Deaths due to fires caused by careless smoking are particularly preventable
- Having a working smoke alarm reduces one's chance of dying in a fire by nearly a half
Careless Smoking Life-Saving Tips
Following these simple fire safety tips can increase your survival rate dramatically:
- Close a matchbook before striking and hold it away from your body, set your cigarette lighter on low flame
- Develop and practice a fire escape plan; in case of a fire, crawl or stay low to the ground, beneath the smoke, and use the escape plan you have worked out; get out and stay out.
- Don't leave cigarettes, cigars, or pipes unattended; put out all smoking materials before you walk away
- Don't put ashtrays on the arms of sofas or chairs
- If smokers have visited, be sure to check the floor and around chair cushions for ashes that may have been dropped accidentally
- If you begin to feel drowsy while watching television or reading, extinguish your cigarette or cigar
- Install a smoke alarm on every level of your home, test smoke alarm batteries every month and change them at least once a year; consider installing a 10-year lithium battery-powered smoke alarm, which is sealed so it cannot be tampered with or opened
- Never smoke in bed, replace mattresses made prior to the 1973 Federal Mattress Flammability Standard
- Use deep ashtrays and soak ashes in water before disposal