Fire safe cigarettes now mandated
A new law will affect every single cigarette smoker in Indiana.
F-S-C. Those three letters could mean the difference between life and death. Their meaning won’t prevent lung cancer or diseases from smoking, the letters stand for “Fire Safe Cigarettes.”
Starting on Wednesday, store shelves across Indiana will be stocked with them.
The law mandates all retailers to sell only that kind of cigarette, once their current inventory of regular cigarettes runs out.
Fort Wayne Fire Chief, Pete Kelley said the fire safe cigarettes extinguish a lot quicker than others. That means cigarettes can’t be left smoldering for very long before they go out on their own.
Kelley said he hopes the new law will help prevent house fires.
“Many of our fires are caused by discarded cigarettes or somebody falling asleep smoking in a chair or a bed,” Kelley said.
Last year a smoking related cause was to blame for 22 Fort Wayne house fires. So far in 2009, 12 fires blazed as a result of cigarettes.
A small label is the only packaging difference on fire safe cigarettes. However, smokers say they notice a bigger difference through the cigarettes themselves, a change in taste.
Some people are opposed to the new law for a different reason.
“A lot of them are upset because they look at it as the government meddling into more of their affairs,” said Dave Harding, owner of Dave’s Discount Tobacco in Fort Wayne.
Fire officials hope smokers find the safer cigarettes worthwhile.
“Certainly, in our mind, far out weighs any inconvenience,” Kelly said.
The National Fire Protection Agency says cigarette-ignited fires are the leading cause of home fire deaths in the country. Twenty-four other states already have FSC laws.
© Wane
