Carelessness while smoking is the main cause of fires
The indisputable leader of all fire incidents is carelessness while smoking. Most often, the culprits and victims of fire in such cases are citizens who abuse alcohol. As is known, people in a state of intoxication completely or partially lose control over their actions and behavior. Often, a person who has been drinking throws unextinguished cigarette butts anywhere, lies down in bed with a lit cigarette, and does not think about the consequences at all.
In most cases, this category of citizens, along with their safety, endangers the lives of their loved ones, as well as people living nearby. Almost daily, similar incidents are reported in the Ministry of Emergency Situations' summaries. For example, the end of October in the Braslav district was not calm for rescuers…
Thus, on October 27, 2024, at 20:06, the operational management center of the Braslav department for emergency situations received a report of a fire in a residential house on Shkolnaya Street in the village of Hireishi.
By the time the rescuers arrived, the house was engulfed in flames.
The owner of the house, born in 1942, died in September 2024. After the mother's death, her daughter, born in 1980, lived in the house and was unemployed. The body of the woman was found by rescuers under a layer of collapsed structures.
The fire destroyed the roof, ceiling, damaged the walls and property. The considered version of the fire's origin is careless handling of fire while smoking by the deceased.
The next day, on October 28, at 16:09, the operational management center of the Braslav district department for emergency situations received a report from police officers about the discovery of a charred body of a woman in a forest area near the village of Lapyany.
Arriving at the scene, the Ministry of Emergency Situations workers found a smoldering site where the deceased, born in 1968, was located. The woman was unemployed and did not reside at her registered address.
The cause of the incident is being established, and the considered version of the fire's origin is careless handling of fire while smoking by the deceased.
A smoking person endangers not only themselves but also their loved ones. The health consequences are well known: passive smoking causes great harm to those around, but a discarded cigarette butt can bring trouble to residents of lower floors. An ashtray is not nuclear physics, and mastering the art of using it is quite simple.
The best way to protect yourself from the consequences of tobacco is to quit smoking altogether. Remember that "flying" and "drunken" cigarette butts can become the cause of maimed lives, broken fates, and burned homes.
The highest number of fires due to careless handling of fire while smoking occurs in the evening and nighttime. Events develop rapidly and always follow the same scenario when a person falls asleep with a smoldering cigarette in hand, and after a while, neighbors call the rescuers.
Statistics of the smoldering cigarette butt
Interesting studies have been conducted by our scientists. Experiments have shown that the maximum temperature of a smoldering cigarette ranges from 300-420°C, and its smoldering time is 4-8 minutes. A cigarette at the initial moment has a temperature of 310-320°C, which then decreases to 240-260°C, with a smoldering time of 26-30 minutes. After igniting a combustible material, such as a mattress, the cigarette butt itself goes out after a while. However, the hotspot it creates can smolder for another 1 to 4 hours. There is no fire as such; a person suffers from poisoning by combustion products.
A cigarette butt thrown onto sawdust causes it to smolder, and the heat released during this process, along with the airflow, penetrates deep into the sawdust. After 2.5-3 hours, the temperature rises to 410-470°C, leading to ignition. A smoldering cigarette butt can ignite paper, for example, in a wastebasket. If the butt lies on the surface, the ignition process lasts 40-50 minutes. If the butt penetrates to a depth of 5-10 cm, it ignites significantly faster — within 12-35 minutes. Similar consequences occur when a butt falls into hay or straw.
When smoking, follow these fire safety rules:
1. Smoke only in specially designated smoking areas.
2. Do not smoke lying in bed.
3. Do not forget to extinguish the cigarette after smoking.
4. Do not smoke near flammable materials.
5. Do not throw unextinguished butts from upper floor balconies, into garbage chutes, and wastebaskets.