Lynn, MA
December 25, 2006
A Christmas Day fire that was caused by a lit cigarette killed one man. According to a report in The Daily Item of Lynn, a 56-year-old man died after being trapped in a basement apartment by a burning mattress. 

Northhampton, MA
November 25, 2006
A fire at the Northampton Country Club that caused $170,000 in damage was started by careless disposal of smoking materials. According to a report in The Republican, ashtrays were inadvertently emptied into a trash can by staff members cleaning up from the evening's events. The fire apparently grew and ignited other material, including the deck.

North Austin, TX
November 18, 2006
Smoke alarms alerted a sleeping man to a cigarette-caused fire at his home. According to a report on KXAN-TV, the fire started because the didn't completely extinguish a cigarette on his back porch. The man escaped without injury. but damage from the fire was estimated at $30,000.

Charlotte, NC
October 30, 2006
Fire investigators say a cigarette caused a morning blaze that killed a 70-year-old man in the mobile home he shared with his wife and adult son. According to a report in The Charlotte Observer, the man was found dead in the kitchen; authorities said it looked as though he had been trying to make his way to the door. Investigators said the fire, which started just before 1 a.m., was ignited by a cigarette that had been disposed of improperly.

Rossford, OH
October 17, 2006
Two people were injured when a discarded cigarette engulfed a mattress in the bedroom in an apartment building. According to a report in The Toledo Blade, a resident told firefighters that she woke up early , smoked a few cigarettes, and went back to sleep. She then woke up just after 6 a.m. to find the bedroom mattress on fire. Smoke damaged eight apartments in the building and smoke and water damage is estimated to be about $15,000.

Chicago, IL
October 15, 2006
A fire in a two-story brick home on the South Side of Chicago killed a 95-year-old resident. According to a report in The Chicago Tribune, the fire broke out on the first floor of the building and was caused by a lit cigarette. The building did not have working smoke alarms.

Mt. Prospect, IL
October 15, 2006
A 95-year-old man died in a single-family home fire caused by a cigarette. According to a report in The Chicago Tribune, a 3-foot-wide section of the floor in the man's room was burned through to the basement. The fire caused about $250,000 in damage. The home did not have working smoke alarms.

October 5, 2006
West Chester Township, Cincinnati, OH
A two-alarm fire at an apartment complex that temporarily displaced a dozen families was caused by a cigarette left smoldering while a woman dozed, according to a report in The Cincinnati Enquirer. The fire was contained to the basement apartment where it began and caused about $10,000 in damages.

October 2, 2006
Allentown, PA
A fire at a boarding house in Allentown was caused by the careless discarding of matches and cigarettes, according to a report on 6ABC.com. One man jumped to safety from a third floor window when the fire broke out. Nine other people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.

September 24, 2006
Lynn, MA
An early-morning fire gutted a second floor apartment and displaced 13 people. According to a report in The Daily Item of Lynn, a coffee cup being used for an ashtray fell over or a cigarette in the cup fell out and caught some bedding on fire. The fire displaced 13 residents of the building.

Gastonia, NC
September 6, 2006
A 52-year-old man was critically injured following an early-morning fire in his mobile home. According to a report in The Charlotte Observer, the man was sitting in his chair, and he woke up, and there was a fire caused by a dropped cigarette. The man ran back inside twice to resuce his two dogs.

Ashland City, TN
August 28, 2006
Fire officials say cigarettes were to blame for the death of a 65-year-old woman who was found burned inside her home. According to a report in the Ashland City Times, the woman was found near a rear door, apparently after she tried to crawl out of the home. A fire department spokesman says it appeared that the woman had been smoking on a couch in the living room.

Eagle Point, OR
August 11, 2006
Fire investigators believe an 85-year-old man dropped the cigarette he was smoking after falling asleep and died in the ensuing house fire. According to a report on KTVZ.com, the incident brings the number of cigarette-caused fire deaths in Oregon to five for 2006. In hopes of preventing similar fatalities, KTVZ.com reports that cigarette fire-safety legislation will again be introduced to the 2007 Oregon Legislature. This same legislation was proposed in the 2005 Legislature. The state senate passed the measure, but it was not heard in the house.

Indianapolis, IN
August 4, 2006
A house fire that killed a woman and one of her dogs Friday morning started because she fell asleep while smoking, according to a report on TheIndyChannel.com. Firefighters were called to house just before 8:00 a.m. Fire and smoke were heavy when firefighters arrived, and they didn't immediately know if anyone was inside. Firefighters eventually found the 49-year-old woman in the back of the house. Two animals were rescued.

Lynchburg, VA
July 20, 2006
A man died after his home caught on fire. According to a report in the Lynchburg News and Advance, officials attribute the cause of the fire to discarded smoking materials on the living room sofa.

Chicacum, WA
July 10, 2006
The preliminary cause of a house fire that killed a 74-year-old woman has been narrowed to smoldering cigarette ashes thrown in a bathroom trashcan. According to a report in the Port Angeles Peninsula Daily News, the woman was not badly burned, which led investigators to believe that the cause of her death was smoke inhalation. Firefighters found the woman unconscious sitting on a couch with a newspaper close by and her eyeglasses in hand.

Bellevue, WI
June 17, 2006
A cigarette is blamed for causing a fire that destroyed four mobile homes. According to a report on WFRV.com, investigators say a cigarette left outside one of the homes started the fire. No residents were injured, but one firefighter was treated for heat-related issues. Damage is estimated to be over $250,000.

Bentonville, AR
June 15, 2006
A woman died in her apartment after falling asleep with a burning cigarette. According to a report on the HomeTownChannel.com, neighbors called 911 when they saw smoke coming from the woman's building. Firefighters found the unconscious woman inside and took her to the hospital where she later died.

St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
June 15, 2006
Two fires caused by discarded cigarettes caused more than $32,000 in damage. According to a report in the St. Thomas Times-Journal, the first fire started on a porch and spread to a nearby garage before entering the rear of a duplex. The second fire started on a roof and went up the back of a building.

Green Bay, WI
May 10, 2006
A man who fell asleep with a cigarette caused a $1 million fire that displaced 47 people. According to a report in The Press-Gazette, the man awoke to find his couch on fire. He tried to put the fire out, but when it continued to grow, he began banging on doors to evacuate building occupants. The second floor of the 32-unit building was severely damaged by fire, and the first floor sustained major water damage.

Hillsdale, MI
May 6, 2006
A mobile home fire caused by discarded cigarettes in a trash can killed two people. According to a report in The Toldeo Blade, the fire killed a 45-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman, both of whom died from smoke inhalation. Police told the newspaper that there were a number of discarded cigarettes in a trash can in the kitchen which caused the blaze that quickly spread and destroyed the home.

Summerdale, AL
May 5, 2006
An 83-year-old man, terminally ill with lung cancer, died in a fire caused by a lit cigarette, according to a report in The Press Register. The man was found in the smoldering remains of his recreational vehicle. He had collapsed in the doorway as he tried to escape the blaze.

West Dennis, MA
May 4, 2006
A 59-year-old was burned on approximately 30% of her body - including her chest, face, and hair - in a fire officials say was started by a cigarette. According to a report in The Cape Cod Times, the woman was burned in her condominium after she dropped a lit cigarette.

New York City, NY
May 1, 2006
An 87-year-old man living in a New York rest-home died after he fell asleep in his wheelchair with a lit cigarette. According to a report in the New York Post, the man's room was gutted, but no other residents were injured.

Flint Township, MI
April 28, 2006
A 48-year-old woman died in her mobile home after falling asleep with a cigarette. According to a report in The Flint Journal, investigators believe the woman's cigarette started her mattress on fire and smoldered for hours before it spread. The report says that firefighters had been called to the home several times before to combat fires started by misplaced cigarettes.

Hempstead, NY
April 27, 2006
A cigarette-caused fire in a senior citizen complex forced the evacuation of 100 residents. Two apartments, including the unit in which the lit cigarette was left unattended, were destroyed. According to a report in Newsday, a dozen people, including four firefighters, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Eddy, TX
April 6, 2006
A mother and her teenage son died after an apartment fire. According to a report on KCEN-TV, the 47-year-old mother fell asleep while smoking and her cigarette caught the sofa on fire. The report says the mother awoke and went into her autistic son's bedroom in an effort to save him, but both were overcome by smoke and died.

Brockton, MA
March 25, 2006
Two people were killed in a multi-family apartment building fire that officials say started when a couch caught fire from a lit cigarette. According to a report in The Boston Globe, two residents attempted to carry a smoldering couch outside of the building at 3:30 am, but were unable to remove the couch before the fire spread from the living room to a nearby kitchen. The two men escaped unharmed, but a man and a woman who were in another unit of the complex perished in the blaze.

Clinton Township, MI
March 21, 2006
A 56-year-old man has been charged with second degree murder after falling asleep with a lit cigarette and causing a fire that killed a seven-month-old girl and destroyed several apartments. According to a report in The Detroit News, the fire was fed by contact with the man's oxygen tank. Because of the man's history of reckless smoking, he was also chaged with involuntary manslaughter and arson of a dwelling.

Washington, DC
March 10, 2006
The fire that killed a 77-year-old woman inside her assisted-living apartment started when she was smoking in her wheelchair, according to a report in The Washington Times. Fire officials say the woman dropped the cigarette and caught her clothes on fire inside her second-floor apartment. She died after being rescued and taken to a hospital for burns and smoke inhalation. The damage to the apartment is estimated at $10,000.

Annandale, VA
March 8, 2006
An Annandale couple in their eighties died after fire swept through their brick home. According to a report in The Washington Post, fire investigators said the blaze was caused by the "inappropriate disposal of smoking materials."  Damage to the house was estimated at $300,000.

Burlington, VT
March 4, 2006
A fire that killed a 16-year-old boy is being blamed on a cigarette that was dropped onto a couch, according to a report in The Barre Montpelier Times Argus. The teen was was trapped on the second floor of the home. Fire officials say residents tried to put out the fire in the couch before calling for help. Smoke alarms did warn of the fire, but efforts to put out the fire kept everyone from getting out quickly.

Newport News, VA
February 26, 2006
A church was destroyed by a fire that officials say was caused by a discarded cigarette. According to a report in The Daily Press, burn marks in heavy grass along a walkway behind the church indicated the fire began in that area and spread to a vehicle and a boat before igniting the church. Fire officials were called to the scene, but the blaze had already moved quickly, leaving the building unsalvageable.

Fairfax County, VA
February 26, 2006
A cigarette tossed into a flowerpot set four townhouses ablaze, prompting more than 100 firefighters to rush to the scene. According to a report in The Washington Post, the three-alarm fire started shortly after 5 am and quickly spread up the wood exterior to the roof and onto neighboring homes. An elderly woman was treated at a hospital for stress, and 13 other people were displaced. The fire caused an estimated $2 million in damage.

New Eagle, PA
February 25, 2006
A 72-year-old woman perished when her clothing caught fire from a lit cigarette. According to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, investigators believe the woman's housecoat caught fire in her manufactured home. The woman's son guided her outside where he tried to extinguish the flames and call for help, but the woman lost consciousness and later died.

Orland Park, IL
February 25, 2006
Party guests smoking cigarettes outside unintentionally lit their host’s house on fire. According to a report in The Chicago Sun-Times, guests were smoking and someone set their cigarette on an ashtray that was along the exterior of the house, which was where the fire started. A minimal amount of damage occurred and there were no injuries.

Independence, MO
February 10, 2006
An unattended cigarette ignited a couch and started an early-morning fire that left one person dead, another person seriously injured, and another without a home. According to a report in The Examiner, fire officials say all three got out during the fire but one, a 49-year-old woman, went back after a dog, and died inside the home. Fire officials told the newspaper that smoke alarms alerted the occupants to the fire, but not early enough.

Lynn, MA
February 10, 2006
A 64-year-old man died after a small fire broke out in his downtown apartment. According to a report in The Daily Item, the man died of smoke inhalation, with the fire caused by unattended cigarettes that burned on a day bed as he slept in another room at his apartment. Crews responded to the fire after a smoke alarm, located in the hallway of the building, alerted the fire department.

Spokane, WA
February 3, 2006
An apartment fire caused smoke and water damages between $40,000 to $50,000. Fire officials told The Spokesman-Review that a resident smoking in bed was the cause of the blaze.

Manchester, NH
January 21, 2006
A two-alarm fire at an apartment complex destroyed one unit and left four families homeless. The early morning fire, which caused about $100,000 in damage, was caused by improperly disposed smoking materials that ignited bedding and a mattress in a bedroom in one of the units, according to a report in The Union Leader.

Escondido, CA
January 11, 2006
A 67-year-old man was killed when his clothes caught fire while smoking outside the care center where he lived. According to a North County Times report, an oxygen tank that he had did not explode.

Escondido, CA
January 10, 2006
A 55-year-old woman died when her clothes caught fire while smoking on an enclosed porch at her mother's house. According to a report in The North County Times, the recently passed California Cigarette Safety and Firefighter Protection Act, which would require only fire-safe cigarettes to be sold in California, would go into effect in 2007.

Mystic, CT
August 4, 2005
A fire that claimed the lives of two Mystic residents was caused by "careless smoking" by one of the victims. According to a report in The Westerly Sun, one of the victims was found lying face down on a box spring in his first floor apartment. The official cause of his death was smoke inhalation. The report states that a horsehair mattress was partially blocking a doorway inside the victim's apartment.

Charlotte, NC
August 1, 2004
A father, mother and their adult son died in a house fire that authorities said was the deadliest in Charlotte in nine years. The blaze that killed the couple and their son was caused by an unattended cigarette, according to a report on TV station WCNC in Charlotte.