At its Mid-Year Meeting in March 2006, the National Association of EMTs (NAEMT) voted to join the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes. NAEMT is one of 25 professional associations in the coalition, which is working to save lives and prevent injuries and devastation from cigarette-ignited fires.
The coalition, coordinated by the National Fire Protection Association, is calling for cigarette manufacturers to immediately produce and market only cigarettes that adhere to established cigarette fire safety performance standards.
In addition, the coalition is working to see that standards for fire-safe cigarettes are required in every state in the country. New York was the first to require that cigarettes sold and manufactured in the state be fire-safe. Vermont and California both adopted fire-safe cigarette legislation in 2005. Additional states are currently considering fire-safe cigarette legislation. In Canada, fire-safe cigarettes are mandated nationwide using the New York state standard.
Click here for more information on the coalition.