Lighting up in the home could cost you your life Government campaign aims to highlight dangers of careless behaviour
Smoking in the home causes 4,300 house fires a year, killing around 132 people. These are the stark figures that the Communities and Local Government (CLG) are using to educate people about the dangers of lighting up indoors, particularly as more people will be doing so once the smoking ban comes into force later this year.
Nearly a third of all households have a smoker living in them and smoking households are 38% more likely to have a fire than non-smoking homes yet despite this danger, 17% of people have gone to bed without ensuring cigarettes and candles are extinguished properly.
House fires are all too common in the UK with the average house fire costing £25,500. One fifth of Brits experience them at some point in their lives and men are twice as likely to be victims of smoking-related fires as women. 36% of parents in the UK have failed to warn their children about the dangers of fire in the home and an astonishing 35% of people in the UK do not have an escape route planned in the event of a fire in their house.
Avoiding a fire tragedy in the home is about three main things: prevention, detection and escape. This includes general household safety, the use and maintenance of smoke alarms and planning and knowing escape routes.
To find more about the dangers involved and how you can keep yourself, friends and family safe, visit www.firekills.gov.uk/smoking/02.htm
Top Tips to prevent a fire in your home:
Take extra care when you're tired, taking any sort of drugs or have been drinking alcohol. It's very easy to fall asleep without while your cigarette is still burning.
Never smoke in bed - if you need to lie down, don't light up. You could doze off and set your bed on fire.
Never leave lit cigarettes, cigars or pipes unattended - they can easily overbalance as they burn down.
Buy child-resistant lighters and matchboxes - every year children die by starting fires with matches and lighters. Keep these where children can't reach them.
Use a proper, heavy ashtray that can't tip over easily and is made of a material that won't burn. Make sure your cigarette is not still burning when you are finished - put it out, right out.
Tap your ash into an ashtray, never a wastebasket containing other rubbish - and don't let the ash or cigarette ends build up in the ashtray.
Fit and maintain a smoke alarm - when a fire starts, you only have a few minutes to escape. A working smoke alarm can buy you valuable time to get out, stay out and dial 999. You can get a basic smoke alarm for the same price as a packet of cigarettes. Better still are those smoke alarms with long-life batteries or are mains-powered.