New Hampshire State Fire Marshal J. William Degnan wants everyone to pay real close attention to the following information as it could save a life and prevent an injury! As you read on you will see a life was lost and someone was injured we don’t want this to happen in our state or any where else again.

The theme for this year’s Arson Awareness Week is "Toylike Lighters-Playing with Fire ." The goal of this year's Arson Awareness Week is to focus public attention on the dangers of toylike or novelty lighters in the hands of children. Toylike or novelty lighters have been responsible for injuries, deaths, and accidents across the Nation.

Children are attracted to novelty lighters because they look like toys. Many of these lighters look like animals, miniature cars, mobile phones, cameras, fishing lures, stacks of coins, markers, and doll accessories. One lighter is nearly identical to the popular rubber ducky bath toy-it even quacks! There are also toylike and novelty lighters that look like tools such as tape measures, drills, hammers, and paint brushes. Ironically, there are even lighters that mimic a Dalmatian donning a fire helmet, a red fire truck, or fire extinguishers.

Children Killed and Injured
Mistaking lighters for toys has proved to be deadly: On September 25, 2007, 15-month old Peyton Edwards and 2-year-old Breydon Edwards of Russellville, Arkansas, died after setting fire to their apartment with a motorcycle-shaped lighter.

Shane St. Pierre was in grocery store in Livermore, Maine, last June with his mother buying sandwiches. Thinking it might be a flashlight; the 6-year-old picked up a miniature baseball bat and flicked the switch. A flame shot out, singeing his eyebrow and burning part of his face. His father, Norm St. Pierre, a fire chief in nearby West Paris, became an advocate for a ban on toylike and novelty lighters. Maine passed a ban on toylike lighters on March 14, 2008.

New Hampshire has not been exempt from these incidences, Marshal Degnan wants all parents to take the time to look around their homes for these types of lighters and get them out of there. As you read above it is happening and this is only two incidences, there are many more.

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