Sponsored by
Smoking 'main cause of fatal house fires'
A third of accidental house fire victims died in blazes started by cigarettes, new research showed today.
Despite the statistics, fewer than half of smokers were aware that cigarettes were the biggest cause of fatal house fires.
* Click here to sign up to free news and sport email alerts from your YEP.
Efforts to persuade smokers to give up, or at least cut out dangerous habits such as lighting up in bed, were stepped up as part of today's No Smoking Day.
* Click here to follow the YEP on Twitter.
The Government's Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, Sir Ken Knight, said: "People need to be aware of the risks of smoking in the home and how smoking materials can very easily lead to fires."
* Click here for latest YEP health news.
Dr Sam Janes, consultant in respiratory and general medicine at University College London Hospital, said: "Many people under-estimate how harmful toxic smoke can be in a house fire - the fumes can render a person unconscious in seconds."
* Click here for latest swine flu news.
Dan Tickle, chief executive of the No Smoking Day charity, said: "Seventy per cent of smokers want to stop, but aren't aware that there is free, local help available to them."
Campaigners said the house fire figures were a "shocking wake-up call."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
