Public Safety
Message and Information
0 5/15/2010
Toy Lighters Have Children Playing With Fire
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Novelty cigarette lighters made to look
like toys have state fire officials concerned the item might
fall into the wrong, tiny hands. The lighters are made for
adults, but state fire officials said they look like toys a
child would play with.
"The last
thing you want is some kid in his closet lighting this
[lighter], or under his bed, or out in back of the barn
playing with this, because nothing but tragedy can occur,"
Cal Fire Prevention Chief David Hillman said.
Last
year, two Arkansas toddlers died while playing with a
novelty lighter made to look like a motorcycle.
State fire
officials have stopped short of seeking a statewide ban, and
instead are focusing on educating parents and retailers
about the dangers of the lighters.
Parent
Bobby Calderon, meanwhile, said he usually sees novelty
lighters placed in the worst spots at stores.
"They're
right at the counter, right at the edge, usually candy next
to it," Calderon said.
One
distributer of the novelty lighters said they would oppose a
ban on lighters because the government already regulates and
tests lighters to be child restraint.
Firefighters Want Novelty Lighters Banned In Pittsburgh
ThePittsburghChannel.Com
updated
8:43 a.m. PT,
Sun., May. 11, 2008
PITTSBURGH - There's a local push for a
ban on novelty lighters. Fire investigators in
Pittsburgh said children might think the
lighters are toys, play with them and
accidentally start fires.
Each year, children start 35,000 fires.
About 8,000 of those fires are at home and 15 to
20 percent of all fire deaths are children.
A blaze in Pittsburgh Larimer section
last year was started by two 8-year-olds playing
with matches. Five children died as a result.
Juveniles in Allegheny
County started a total of 35
fires last year, police
said.
"We're finding out in our
investigations that there
have been one, two, three,
four incidents in the past
with these kids playing with
lighters and matches," said
detective Michael Burns of
the Pittsburgh Police
Department.
And the circumstances are
not always accidental.
"Some of the ones we had,
they got mad at their
brothers and sisters and set
their beds on fire, set
their toys on fire," said
Burns. "Some of it is out of
curiosity."
Now, police said, children
have a new temptation to
play with lighters. Novelty
lighters that look like toys
have killed dozens of
children in other cities.
The city's Department of
Public Safety wants to ban
novelty lighters before
local children are added to
the fatality list. The
department has the backing
of the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission
"Something we're trying to
stop on a federal level, to
not sell items like this
that look like a John Deer
tractor," said Henry
Glogowski of CPS.
Other states have
successfully banned the
lighters in major cities.
Some states issued a
statewide ban.
Firefighter Spreading Message About Novelty Lighters
May 8, 2008--They're colorful, have fun
shapes and sometimes make noise -- but these small trinkets
are not toys. A toy lighter sparked a mission for Altoona
firefighter Joel Westendorf. He collected the novelty
lighters until one day, his six-year-old wanted to play with
it.
Westendorf says she was confused by the situation. "My wife
told her to put that down. She says 'Oh this is one of
daddy's toys.' That's when I decided to try and press this a
little further," Westendorf said.
Now
Westendorf is working with the state fire marshal's office
and Iowa Senator Dennis Block on a bill that would ban
novelty lighters. The state fire marshal's office says
parents need to practice safety tips themselves.
It
recommends to store matches and lighters out of children's
reach and sight, to use lighters with child-resistant
features, and to teach your children to tell an adult if
they see matches or lighters.
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