Arson Awareness Week aims to extinguish toy-like cigarette lighters

LYNN – One day last June, 6-year-old Shane St. Pierre was browsing with his mother in a Livermore, Maine grocery store, while waiting for their sandwich order. The boy was naturally drawn to what he thought was a stack of miniature baseball bats near the cash register. Unaware that the devices were actually novelty cigarette lighters, the boy flicked the trigger and in a second his eyebrows were singed, his face burned.The boy’s father, Norm St. Pierre, a fire chief in nearby West Paris, was so disturbed by the incident he joined other advocates to ensure that toy-like lighters were banned in Maine, effective March 14, 2008. Tennessee officials followed suit in April, and bans are under consideration in Alabama, Connecticut, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Vermont.Fire safety officials say the frequency of such incidents is on the rise, which is why toy-like lighters are the focus of this year’s Arson Awareness Week in Massachusetts. State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan is urging parents, guardians and caregivers to protect themselves and their children from the dangers posed by these devices.”Children playing with any type of lighter is a major concern,” said Coan, noting that fire investigators have found lighters designed to resemble toy cars, motorcycles, ink markers, doll accessories and stacks of coins. “If adults cannot tell if it’s a toy or a lighter, how will a child?”The fire marshal said such fires are often started by children ages 3-7 because the toy-like objects pique their inquisitiveness. From 2001-2005, there were 1,305 juvenile-set fires reported in Massachusetts.Four children – two 2-year-olds and two 3-year-olds – died in fires caused by children playing with matches or lighters. Last month, two more died in a Holyoke fire started by children playing with multiple lighters.The problems wrought by easy-to-ignite cigarette lighters became so prevalent in 1998 that the City Council banned the sale of them to minors. The ordinance did not address the toy-like appearance of many lighters.Lynn Fire Lt. David Legere, head of the arson squad, raised the issue again in 2004 when a 6-year-old boy playing with a lighter accidentally set fire to the triple-decker at 116-118 Franklin St., leaving 11 occupants out in the street and causing $75,000 in damages.According to Legere, six Lynn fires linked to cigarette lighters were reported that year. Nationwide, the devices were blamed for 1,000 deaths and 5,000 fires in 2004. To make his point, Legere purchased a cigarette lighter shaped as a rifle, which shot out flame when the trigger was pulled.Coan said novelty lighters should be stored in a safe place and, since 1994, be designed to resist the efforts of 85 percent of children under age 5 who attempt to ignite them.Arson Awareness Week continues through May 10, sponsored by the U.S. Fire Administration. For more information on the dangers of novelty lighters, go online to www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/subjects/arson/arson_awareness.shtm.