When speaking about residential fire management, most people will think of improperly functioning heaters or electrical fires caused by faulty wires. Actually, according to The National Fire Protection Agency, 56 percent of all fatal residential fires are caused by cigars and cigarettes.

Each year cigarette caused fires lead to nearly 1,000 deaths and 3,000 injuries. The property losses associated  with cigarette-caused fires exceed over half a billion dollars, yes that’s $500,000,000, and total expenses, including health care and income loss are estimated at four-billion dollars.

While smoking will likely never go away and seemly the majority of Americans being smokers, we can help prevent these fires. In 1987, the Federal Government tried to step in and force tobacco companies to manufacture a reduced ignition propensity (RIP) cigarette by using less porous paper and less dense tobacco. This did not take off and we are left with the majority of cigarettes still being a fire hazard.

There are a few tips to smoking safely though. The most important tip is to not smoke while lying down or while tired as it is easier to fall asleep and have the cigarette fall from your hands. Another tip is to never throw a finished cigarette in the trash, as you may not notice that it is still lit and this can ignite other items in the garbage. An overfilled ashtray can also lead to a fire as a lit cigarette may catch the extinguished cigarettes on fire. Another ashtray-related problem is people using items that are not intended as ashtrays. Ashtrays are made from extremely dense and non-flammable plastics, glasses or metals. Using a plastic bottle or a soda can could lead to a fire.

Residential fires can be drastically cut as long as cigarette smokers follow the proper steps in extinguishing a cigarette.