Careless Smoking Life-Saving Tips

• Never smoke in bed. Replace mattresses made prior to the 1973 Federal Mattress Flammability Standard.
• Don't put ashtrays on the arms of sofas or chairs.
• Use large ashtrays with wide lips. While smaller ashtrays may be more attractive, they are not safe. Cigarettes can roll off the edge, and ashes can easily be blown away.
• Empty ashtrays into the toilet or an airtight metal container. Warm ashes dumped in waste cans can smolder for hours, then ignite.
• Don't leave cigarettes, cigars or pipes unattended.
• Put out all smoking materials before you walk away.
• If you begin to feel drowsy while watching television or reading, extinguish your cigarette or cigar.
• Close a matchbook before striking and hold it away from your body. Set your cigarette lighter on "low" flame to prevent burns.
• If friends or relatives who smoke have visited, be sure to check on the floor and around chair cushions for ashes that may have been dropped accidentally.
• In case of a fire, stay low to the ground, beneath the smoke, and have an escape plan already worked out.
• Install a smoke alarm on every level of your home. Test the batteries every month and change them at least once a year.

For more information on how you can help prevent fire deaths please contact your local fire department on a nonemergency number or the United States Fire Administration at (800) 238-3358 or www.usfa.fema.gov