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Our Services > Community Safety Advice > At Home > Cigarettes

Every year, there are around 500 deaths in house fires in the UK. More than four in every 10 of these deaths are as a result of someone being careless with smoking materials, like cigarettes, matches or lighters.

Being under the influence of drink or drugs increases the risk.

• Smoking causes around 5,500 house fires every year in the UK
• These fires are more likely to happen at night – between 10pm and 3am
• Men are twice as likely to be victims as women
• Smoking materials cause one in every three deaths of children under 16
• They cause injury to another 500 children, every year

Matches and Lighters

Fires can often be caused by children playing with matches and lighters that have been left lying around the house. Every year, children are killed or injured by a fire that started with smoking materials.

• Don’t leave matches or lighters lying around
• Check that matches are extinguished properly
• Ensure matches and lighters are kept in child-resistant containers or out of reach

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