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Smoking & Home Fires Campaign Enhances Your Department’s Outreach to Smokers and People Living with Smokers

People from across the country continue to die in home fires caused by cigarettes and other smoking materials. The victims in these home fires extend beyond the smoker; they’re also non-smokers, children and neighbors. Warmer weather allows smokers to comfortably smoke indoors and outdoors, thus increasing the areas in which people smoke and raising the risk of home fires that never have to happen.

Below is a listing of home fires, captured by USFA’s Quick Response program, that were potentially caused by cigarettes or other smoking materials in May:

• Sunday, May 1st – Orange City, FL – 47-year-old woman killed. Officials believe a cigarette may have caused the fire.
• Monday, May 2nd – Carrboro, NC – 40-year-old man killed. Officials believe cigarettes may have caused the fire.
• Friday, May 6th - Lansing, MI - 84-year-old man killed. Careless use of smoking materials.
• Tuesday, May 17th - Newton, NJ - 58-year-old man killed. Officials believe smoking near an oxygen tank may have caused the fire.
• Friday, May 20th – Muskegon Township, MI – 31-year-old man killed. Smoldering smoking materials in a couch caused the fire.
• Saturday, May 21st – Columbus, OH – Two-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl killed. Officials believe a discarded cigarette in a trashcan on the front porch started the fire.
• Saturday, May 21st – San Diego, CA – 75-year-old woman and her 48-year-old son were killed. A smoldering cigarette caused the fire.
• Wednesday, May 25th - Bellmawr, NJ - 60-year-old man killed. Smoking while using oxygen.

The fires listed above represent recent examples of fires caused by smoking materials that resulted in loss of life. Basic fire safety education can help prevent these fires from happening in your community. The USFA’s Smoking & Home Fires campaign can increase your department’s outreach by providing free campaign materials (available online or in a comprehensive CD toolkit in English and Spanish):

• Brochures
• Posters
• Fact sheets
• Talking points
• News releases
• Radio and print public service announcements (PSAs)
• Customizable community PowerPoint presentation

Incorporate these materials into your department’s community outreach program and use them at events such as community fairs, open houses and while canvassing neighborhoods during home safety inspections. The campaign’s website (www.usfa.dhs.gov/smoking) also features key fire safety action steps for smokers and people living with smokers.

Ask a Colleague: Are You a Member of the Quick Response Media Corps?

Is your colleague a part of the 3,200-member Quick Response Media Corps? Members receive valuable fire safety materials and are some of the first to learn about USFA's fire safety initiatives. The membership and materials are completely free. Invite your colleagues to become a member of the QRMC today!

Benefits of being a QRMC member:

• Some of the first to know about new USFA fire safety initiatives
• Receive 15 cause-based, USFA fire safety fact sheets for a general audience, in English and Spanish
• Receive 15 cause-based, fire safety fact sheets for use in media interviews
• Receive six, 30-second live-read radio PSA scripts on smoke alarms, escape planning, careless smoking and fire safety for children and older adults.

For more information about USFA’s Quick Response Media Corps or to enroll online, go to http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/subjects/fireprev/qr/index.shtm