State First To Require Cigarettes Be Self-Extinguishing - Local Smokers Like Idea

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- More than 900 people are killed by fires ignited by unattended cigarettes. New York is taking a giant step to change that by becoming the first in the nation to require cigarettes to be fire safe. They're supposed to put themselves out.

"I think it's a good idea, especially if you have pets," said one smoker. "A lot of times I set a cigarette in the ashtray, leave the room and never know what a pet is doing."**

The smokes with special ultra thin paper just hit stores today. If not puffed on regularly, the cigarette just goes out. The new cigarette is something firefighters have been trying to get implemented for years. With the help of the Plattsburgh City Fire Department, NewsChannel 5 put the new cigarettes to the test. After just one drag, the cigarette was set down on a metal surface just outside the fire station. It took over seven minutes to burn out.

"I expected it to go out sooner than it did," another smoker said. "I thought after two or three minutes, it would go out." Even so, Chief Squires said in most cases that is an improvement. "If it burns down to the filter, it takes 10 minutes or longer to extinguish. That couple of minutes may make a difference," Squires said. Squires said he still wants smokers to see the light.

New York's regulations call for all cigarettes sold in the state to be wrapped in the special paper, in which ultra-thin bands work like speed bumps to slow the burning of cigarettes that are not being puffed. A lit cigarette that is dropped onto bedding or a sofa can smolder unobtrusively for as long as 30 minutes before a fire erupts. Approximately 900 Americans die each year and another 2,500 are injured by fires started by cigarettes, according to the American Burn Association and the federal government.

In theory, if a smoker lights a self-extinguishing cigarette and falls asleep or leaves the cigarette unattended, it will go out on its own after a few minutes.

Greensboro-based Lorillard Tobacco Co. has been selling self-extinguishing cigarettes in New York state since March, company spokesman Steve Watson said. "We haven't received any complaints, only a few inquiries from smokers whose cigarette self-extinguished while they were smoking them," he said.