Tighter Fire Safety Standards Prove Matchless for Kids

U.S. safety measure has cut cigarette-lighter fires by children under 5

TUESDAY, Sept. 17, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Steps taken almost a decade ago to make it more difficult for small children to play with fire are paying off.

A safety standard introduced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1994 reduced cigarette-lighter fires caused by children under the age of 5 by a blazing 58 percent, says a study in the September issue of Injury Prevention.

"It's just a remarkable reduction. This proves that safety standards save lives," says CPSC spokesman Ken Giles.

"The study results are certainly very exciting," adds Todd LeDuc, assistant fire rescue chief for Broward County Fire Rescue in Florida. With 1.6 million residents, Broward County encompasses the greater Fort Lauderdale area.

"They yielded a significant reduction in fire usage by younger children of these lighters, which dramatically not only decreases fire but also injuries, death and associated financial losses with property as well," he adds.

The CPSC's Safety Standard for Cigarette Lighters requires disposable and novelty cigarette lighters to be outfitted with a child-resistant mechanism making the tool difficult for children under the age of 5 to operate.

The need for some sort of standard seemed clear.

At the time it was adopted, the CPSC estimated that children younger than 5 playing with cigarette lighters started 5,900 residential fires that resulted in 170 deaths and 1,150 injuries each year between 1986 and 1988. Disposable lighters were involved in the overwhelming majority -- 97 percent -- of those fires.

The current study compared that data to more recent data covering the period 1997 to 1999 collected from various U.S. fire departments.

In the later period, 48 percent of cigarette-lighter fires were started by children under the age of 5, compared with 71 percent before the standard was introduced, a reduction of 58 percent.

In 1988, children under the age of 5 caused an estimated 2,400 cigarette-lighter fires that resulted in 70 deaths, 480 injuries and $38.2 million property losses.

The CPSC estimates the new standard prevented 3,300 fires, 100 deaths, 660 injuries and $52.5 million in property losses in 1998, or a total of $566.8 million in societal savings.

"I think the impact is a tremendous one, both nationally as well as for local fire departments," LeDuc says. "It's an issue that fire departments struggle to deal with on a daily basis. There is a tendency for small children to be naturally inquisitive -- and fire being one of the things that draw their attention, certainly validating for us that more stringent standards has had a demonstrable impact on safety."

Still, Giles points out, it doesn't mean these cigarette lighters are childproof, just child-resistant. "It means that some kids are going to be able to light the lighter, so parents still need to keep lighters out of the reach of children," he says.

In 2000, the CPSC introduced newer standards requiring that multipurpose lighters, like those used to light grills and fireplaces, be child-resistant. The impact of those standards have not yet been measured.

What To Do

For more information on the Broward County Fire Rescue Department, which includes programs for children, go here.

The National Fire Protection Association has a wealth information on all aspects of fire prevention.

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