FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information contact:

Michael Scott, Battalion Chief

Wentzville Fire District

209 W. Pearce Blvd.

Wentzville, MO 63385

(636) 327-6239

mscott@wentzvillefire1.org

Date: April 29, 2008

United States Fire Administration announces National Arson Awareness Week – May 4 to 10, 2008.

Wentzville, Missouri--- The theme for this year’s Arson Awareness Week is “Toy-like Lighters-Playing with Fire”. The goal of this year’s Arson Awareness Week is to focus public attention on the dangers of toy-like or novelty lighters in the hands of children. Every year children are injured playing with matches and cigarette lighters. The toy-like or novelty lighters have been responsible for injuries, deaths and accidents across the nation.

These lighters are everywhere we look; in grocery stores, gasoline stations, auto parts stores and more. Children are attracted to the novelty lighters because they look like toys. Many of these lighters look like animals, toy cars, markers or toy cap guns. Some of them are so realistic to the toys that adults can have a hard time telling the difference. There have been reports of people shooting themselves in the hand trying to light a cigarette with what they thought was a pistol-shaped novelty lighter. There have also been reports of children being burned or accidentally setting fires while playing with what they thought were toys, but were actually lighters.

On January 1, 2008, the U.S. Fire Administration’s (USFA’s) National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) will collect information specifically about novelty and toy-like lighters. There is data that indicates that lighters play a role nearly equal to matches in residential child-play fires. When children set fires in the home, the most common area of fire origin is the bedroom. In 2002 alone, the National Fire Protection Association estimated 13,900 child-playing structure fires were reported in the U.S., which caused 210 civilian deaths, 1,250 civilian injuries, and $339 million in damages.

The Wentzville Fire Protection District wants all of our citizens to be careful when using and storing the novelty cigarette lighters or any lighter. Children are fascinated by the magic of the lighters and think they are toys to play with. For more information on the novelty lighters and home fire safety please check the following links: www.usfa.dhs.org and www.wentzvillefire.org.

The Wentzville Fire District covers 88 square miles of Western St. Charles County and includes the cities of Wentzville, Foristell, Flint Hill, and Josephville; as well as large portions of Lake St. Louis, Dardenne Prairie and O’Fallon.