US fire-safe cigarettes lead to drop in residential fires

Fire-safe cigarettes, which have an ability to self-extinguish if left unattended, have appeared to lower the rate of residential fires.

Harvard researchers studied a six-year-old law in Massachusetts that required only fire-safe cigarettes be sold. The study found the likelihood of unintentional residential fires dropped by 28% after the law was introduced in 2008.

The largest drop was in fires that involved human factors, such as falling asleep while smoking, and fires that ignited furniture and bedding.