Aside from the fact that smoking is bad for your health, there are more reasons why smoking can be deadly:
- Fires started by cigarettes cause one out of every five fire fatalities.
- Careless smoking is the No. 1 cause of home fire deaths in Canada.
Prevent smoking-related fires with these safety tips:
- If you smoke, smoke outside
- Use deep, wide ashtrays that cannot be knocked over
- Empty ashes into a metal container - not the garbage can - and put it outside
- Before you throw out butts and ashes, make sure they are out. Dousing in water or sand is the best way to do that
- Never flick lit cigarette butts off balconies
- Do not extinguish cigarettes in plant pots, which may contain a mixture of peat moss, shredded wood and bark that can easily ignite
- Never smoke in bed.
Did you know?
- Smoking fires account for 8% of all home fires.
- One in 10 smoking fires results in an injury or death.
- One in four home fire fatalities are caused by smoking.
- 65%of smoking fires are caused by improper discarding of smoking materials.
- The average dollar loss per smoking fire is $37,000
More information for tenants, landlords and owners about the benefits of smoke-free housing can be found on Halton Region's webpage.
Thinking of quitting? Visit Halton Region's Public Health tobacco-free living webpage.