3.19 Burns and fires caused by tobacco use

Show / hide chapter menu

3.0 Background

3.1 Tobacco—a leading preventable cause of death and disease

3.2 Cardiovascular diseases

3.3 Lung cancer

3.4 Respiratory diseases

3.5 Other cancers caused by or associated with smoking

3.6 Reproductive health and smoking

3.7 Pregnancy and smoking

3.8 Infant health and smoking

3.9 Increased susceptibility to infection in smokers

3.10 Eye diseases

3.11 Dental diseases

3.12 Gastrointestinal diseases

3.13 Bone density and risk of fractures

3.14 Effects of smoking on the skin

3.15 Smoking and complications in medical treatment

3.16 Smoking and diabetes

3.17 Poorer levels of general health

3.18 Smoking, motor vehicle crashes and other injuries

3.19 Burns and fires caused by tobacco use

3.20 Tobacco poisoning

3.21 Health effects for younger smokers

3.22 Genetic influences on tobacco-caused disease

3.23 Smoking, dementia and cognitive decline

3.24 Lung disease, smoking and occupational exposures

3.25 Air pollution, cigarette smoking and ill health

3.26 Health effects of smoking brands that claim to deliver lower levels of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide

3.27 Health effects of smoking tobacco in other forms

3.28 Health 'benefits' of smoking?

3.29 Morbidity (ill health) attributable to tobacco-caused disease

3.30 Deaths attributable to tobacco by disease category

3.31 Morbidity and mortality due to tobacco-caused disease and socioeconomic disadvantage

3.32 Health effects of smoking other substances

3.33 Health effects of chewing tobacco, and of other smokeless tobacco products

3.34 Public perceptions of tobacco as a drug, and knowledge and beliefs about the health consequences of smoking

3.35 Health benefits of cessation

3.36 The global tobacco pandemic

Acknowledgments

References

Lit cigarettes are a leading cause of fires and fatalities from fires in Australia and globally. Smoking is conservatively estimated to be the direct cause of at least 4574 fires in Australia each year, the real number probably being much higher.113

It is estimated that in 2004–05, 24 people died in Australia due to fires caused by cigarettes, and that nearly a quarter (23%) of all deaths caused by fire are due to cigarette use.7 The National Coroners' Information System has reported that between the financial years 2000–01 and 2005–06, 67 deaths were caused in Australia by cigarette-related fires.114 The authors of this report emphasise that this is highly likely to be an under-representation of the true number of deaths, particularly for the more recent years reported, since cases not concluded or as yet uncoded in their national database are not included.

The role of smoking-related materials in causing fires has led to demands for tobacco manufacturers to introduce 'reduced ignition propensity' (RIP) cigarettes, which only burn while being actively inhaled upon, as opposed to when they are left idling between puffs, or after they have been discarded.113 (For further discussion about RIP tobacco products, see Chapter 10, Section 10.7.9.)