Eyewitness News Tests Fire Safe Cigarettes

Smokers in Kansas may not realize it, but the cigarettes they're buying now are different from what was on the shelves just two months ago. In July, fire safe cigarettes became the only kind available in the state.
Experts hope the new cigarettes will cause fewer fires because they go out much more quickly. Fire safe cigarettes have several layers of paper surrounding the tobacco making it more difficult for oxygen to feed a burning cigarette. It means if the cigarette isn't actively being smoked, it'll burn itself out.
Since 2006, Wichita has seen 226 cigarette-caused fires.
"We deal with people who are having their worst day ever," says Wichita Fire Captain Stuart Bevis.
Capt. Bevis joined Eyewitness News Thursday to help compare the differences between the old and new cigarettes. He's investigated around 2,000 fires in his time with the department.
"They'll say nothing bad's ever happened to them when they've fallen asleep with their cigarette or had too much alcohol with their cigarette," says Capt. Bevis, "because it only takes one time. When that one time happens, it's a tragedy."
In our first test, we simply lit one of each type of cigarette and laid them in an ash tray. The fire safe cigarette went out in less than two minutes while the old cigarette burned all the way to the filter for 16 minutes.
"It does have a chance to be a little bit better," Capt. Bevis says of the new cigarettes. "Two and a half minutes smoldering against 15? That gives us a much better chance of it going out before something bad happens."
In the second test, we placed the lit cigarettes on an old recliner's cushion. Once again, the fire safe cigarette only takes a couple of minutes to go out, leaving a small burn in the polyester fabric. The old cigarette burns to the filter, leaving a long burn mark and almost getting to the cotton fabric inside the cushion's cover.
We use our last two tests checking what typically happens in a cigarette-caused fire, a cigarette that falls in a cushion corner or into a crevice. In these tests, both types of cigarettes burn to the filter.
In one of the tests, the fire safe cigarette chars a piece of highly-combustible lint. It likely means the recliner wasn't far from going up in flames. Capt. Bevis says it's a sign that just because the product is safer doesn't mean it's safe.
"They can have cigarettes that are supposed to put themselves out in two-and-a-half minutes, but if all the right circumstances fall into place, it can still lead to a fire if they're dealt with carelessly," says Capt. Bevis.
We wanted to know if you've ever heard of fire safe cigarettes. The results of our exclusive Fact Finder 12 scientific survey show 28% of you say you've heard of the new cigarettes while most, 72%, say you have not.
Not everyone likes the new cigarettes. More than 8,600 smokers nationwide have signed an online petition calling for a repeal of fire safe cigarettes. They complain the new cigarettes taste bad and have more carbon monoxide in each drag.