Governor signs legislation designed to save lives and property from fires
By Elizabeth Bluemink
Anchorage Daily News
Copyright 2007 Anchorage Daily News
All Rights Reserved
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Starting late next year, Alaskans will have to buy cigarettes capable of snuffing themselves.
Gov. Sarah Palin signed a new law Wednesday mandating the sale of so-called "fire safe" cigarettes, available in some Lower 48 states for the past three years.
"It will save lives," Palin said, noting that unattended cigarettes are the leading cause of home fires in Alaska and the United States.
About four people die in Alaska each year due to cigarette-ignited fires, nearly 40 percent of them 65 or older, according to the state Division of Fire Prevention.
A cadre of Alaska legislators, led by Sen. Donny Olson, D-Nome, has pushed for the Alaska "fire safe" cigarette law for a few years. The Legislature approved the bill, Senate Bill 84, in May.
Palin signed the bill at the Chugiak Fire Station, surrounded by about 40 people, including firefighters, public safety officers, Mat-Su legislators and staff members.
Under the law, retailers and manufacturers won't have to clear out their conventional cigarette inventory until November 2008.
About 800 to 1,000 kinds of cigarettes are sold in Alaska, according to the state Department of Revenue, which collects the cigarette tax. When the law starts, tobacco manufacturers will need to certify their cigarettes as "fire safe." The state will charge a $250 registration fee for each kind of cigarette every three years.
The estimated $250,000 collected will pay for enforcement, the state said. The state fire marshal will administer the new law and will seize and destroy cigarettes that don't comply, Palin said.
Tobacco manufacturers already offer self-extinguishing versions of their cigarettes in the states that have passed laws similar to Alaska's. But they continue to sell conventional cigarettes in the states that haven't passed the "fire safe" laws, according to the National Fire Protection Association, based in Quincy, Mass.
About 19 other states require the "fire safe" cigarettes.
That covers about half of the U.S. population, according to the association.
Despite a number of attempts in Congress since the 1970s, no national law requires "fire safe" cigarettes.
Self-extinguishing cigarettes are usually made by adding two bands of thick paper to slow down or stop burning of an unattended cigarette.
Saving lives is just part of the benefit. A self-extinguishing cigarette also could reduce injuries and property damage from fires, said David Tyler, the state fire marshal.
A dropped cigarette — left on a sofa, for example — can smolder for hours before igniting into a full-fledged fire, firefighters said.
Despite the "fire safe" moniker, state firefighters pointed out Wednesday that there isn't any such thing as a "safe" cigarette. The self-extinguishing cigarettes are considered less risky to ignite upholstery and other soft fabric, due to their design.
For a "fire safe" cigarette to be approved for sale in Alaska, it will need to undergo lab testing and meet state-established fire safety performance standards, according to the law.
How will the law affect retailers and smokers?
Alaska retailers might have some trouble ridding their shelves of their conventional cigarette inventory by November 2008, but cigarette buyers probably won't lose their favorite brand, one Anchorage tobacco wholesaler said Wednesday.
"I don't see it having any effect, in terms of sales," said Ray Seierup, division manager for Northern Sales Co., a Washington state-based wholesale company with five retail distribution centers in Alaska.
