News

Oregon State Fire Marshal Nancy Orr is leading a nationwide effort in calling for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to prohibit the sale and distribution of novelty lighters. Her office has partnered with The Idea Bank, which produces award-winning fire prevention programming, to create a video-based web page to gather novelty lighter fire and burn incident data. The web page may be viewed at www.theideabank.com/psa/NoveltyLighters.html.  

In a video message on the web site, Orr asks fire professionals, "Do you know of a fire or burn injury involving a child using a novelty lighter? If you do, please complete the incident report form we've provided and email the information to us. Together, we can eliminate novelty lighters and the fire dangers they create."

Orr spoke at the National Volunteer Fire Council's (NVFC) Fall Meeting in Bend Oregon, where the Council's Board of Directors voted to strongly encourage the CPSC to prohibit the importation, sale, and distribution of novelty lighters in the United States.  NVFC Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg recently sent a letter to CPSC Chairman Nancy Nord expressing his concern over the dangers posed by novelty lighters.

The sale of novelty lighters has already been banned in Europe. Orr pointed out that gathering incident reports is pivotal to getting novelty lighters banned in this country because the CPSC requires nationwide data before considering changes to existing regulations.