NORTHAMPTON — Authorities have attributed the start of a bevy of recent fires to smoking materials, but almost all cigarettes are designed to self-extinguish, as per a long-standing state law.

It doesn’t always work.

A fire that heavily damaged a downtown Northampton condominium building Tuesday morning began with the improper disposal of smoking materials — investigators have not said what exactly — on an exterior porch. Less destructive was a porch fire in the Cushman section of Amherst April 15.

But it likewise began with something like a carelessly tossed cigarette that smoldered for hours until it consumed a column and a portion of the porch at the multi-unit residence.

Both blazes illustrate the changing nature of fires from the nearly decade-old state law that requires all cigarettes to meet safety standards for indoor use. Other common rules force many smokers to light up outdoors.

Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, said the regulations for what are known as Fire Standard Compliant Cigarettes went into effect in 2008. They are aimed at preventing cigarettes from sparking fires on upholstered furniture and beds.

“They are designed to self-extinguish when the person smoking a cigarette is no longer drawing air,” Mieth said.

The National Fire Protection Association, in Quincy, led a coalition of safety advocates to push for such rules across the country after former Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Moakley failed to pass federal legislation. Since 2006, all 50 states and the District of Columbia passed similar laws.

“The intent of so-called ‘fire-safe’ cigarettes was that if they were dropped in bedding or upholstered furniture, they would have a greater chance to go out,” said Lorraine Carli, a spokeswoman for the association.

Mieth said data show that smoking-related fires have been reduced. Blazes caused by cigarettes are no longer the leading annual cause of fatal fires in the Bay State.

In 2010, 610 civilian deaths in the country were attributed to smoking material fires, according to the NFPA, which it called “a number at or near the all-time-low” and well below where the situation stood in the 1980s.

That number fell even more, by 11.4 percent in 2011, when such fires resulted in 540 civilian deaths.

Method

Modern cigarettes include what the industry calls “speed bumps.” These are two or three thin bands of less-porous paper added to the cigarette, stopping the butt from burning unless it gets more air. The innovation effectively cuts off access to oxygen.

The statewide law requires cigarettes be tested using a method adopted by ASTM International, formerly the American Society of Testing and Materials International.

Failure happens when a cigarette burns all the way down after being placed on 10 layers of standard filter paper. The test is considered passed if fewer than 11 of the 40 cigarettes fail.

Cigarette manufacturers submit documentation proving they meet the law, Mieth said. The state fire marshal’s office also does independent testing by buying cigarettes and sending them to a laboratory.

Mieth said state police investigators, for fatal fires and other major blazes, may do independent testing, learning the brand and style of the cigarettes that caused the fire, and where they were bought. The remaining packs or similar packs are then tested. If found in violation of the law, tobacco manufacturers can be fined.

But even cigarettes that meet the standards are not designed to prevent ignition in trash, mulch or dry leaves, or to self-extinguish when outside where wind and other atmospheric conditions may fuel the flames, Mieth said.

Smoking outdoors

Unfortunately, new problems are developing as more people light up outside where — unlike indoors — smoke detectors and alarms aren’t in place.

Data provided by Mieth show that in Massachusetts, fires involving bedding and furniture have plummeted, down from 112 such fires in 2001 to 26 in 2014.

Fires with an exterior area of origin, though, have fluctuated wildly. There were 133 such fires in 2001, 121 in 2014, as many as 176 in 2012 and as few as 55 in 2003.

Carli said one of the lessons that can come out of the recent spate of porch fires is that people need to be careful when smoking outdoors. Do not put out cigarettes in a potted plant or near dry brush, she said.

The testing standard for compliant cigarettes in Massachusetts hasn’t been revised since the law passed nine years ago and, as the nature of fires caused by smoking materials changes, people ask whether the laws can be more proactive, Mieth said.

Carli said there is room to improve, but it was never the intent to prevent cigarettes from lighting mulch ablaze.

“At this point, I don’t know of any efforts to ramp up the standard,” Carli said.

Cigarette manufacturers are clear in their approach.

On its website, PhilipMorris USA notes that fire-standard-compliant cigarettes “are not ‘fire-safe.’ Anything that burns, if handled carelessly, can cause a fire.”

Its major competitor also assures customers it meets the standard.

“R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company worked diligently to design its cigarettes so that they comply with the standard.”

Amherst Fire Department Capt. Steve Gaughan said today’s cigarettes may give people a false sense of security. Smokers may think they can dispose of them without consequence.

“(The law has) definitely worked, and it’s a good initiative, but you have to be aware smoking materials still cause fires,” Gaughan said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.

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