New law requires cigarettes to be fire safe

Starting today, all cigarettes sold in Minnesota will be "fire safe".

The new cigarettes no longer contain a chemical that allows them to continue burning when left unattended.

Unattended cigarettes are the leading cause of home fire deaths in the U.S.

Tom Brace, director of the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association, said the new cigarettes should significantly reduce the number of cigarette related fires.

"Now imagine that cigarette falling into someone sitting in an upholstered chair or falling on the floor on a piece of carpet. The ability of that cigarette to cause an ignition would be reduced with the new technology that is now in play in this type of low propensity fire cigarette," Brace said.

Brace said the new state law requiring fire-safe cigarettes is the most important fire-prevention law passed in more than 30 years.

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