Investigators blamed a cigarette for last week’s three-alarm blaze at Capitol Lounge, prompting D.C.’s fire chief to call for a law requiring vendors to offer “fire-safe” cigarettes, which are designed to extinguish more quickly.
The fire caused about $90,000 in damage to the at the popular Capitol Hill watering hole and to a next-door gift shop. It was the second fire at the lounge in as many years, and both were caused by cigarettes. In 2005, the lounge suffered extensive damage after an employee left a cigarette unattended in the early morning hours.
The District’s smoking ban has reduced the number of restaurant and bar fires, but “even that isn’t enough to prevent careless smoking and the devastation,” D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said.
Fire officials are in discussions with the mayor’s office to introduce a mandate that would require vendors to offer smokers the option of buying fire-safe cigarettes, D.C. fire spokesman Alan Etter said. Such cigarettes are wrapped with thin bands of less porous paper that choke off the flow of oxygen and create “speed bumps” that slow down a burning cigarette.
When left unattended, the tobacco hits the speed bump and extinguishes.
“It’s a simple, safe measure,” Etter said. “We found that most manufacturers are happy to make them and smokers like them to protect their homes from fires.”
Thirty-two states have passed or are considering similar laws, fire officials said.
Cigarettes are the leading cause of home fire fatalities in the United States, killing up to 900 people a year, D.C. fire officials said. Six people died in the District in 2005 as a result of careless smoking.
