● ‘Where there is smoke, there is fire’ is really more than a figure of speech. Nearly one third of the deaths and injuries in residential fires occur in blazes started by smoldering cigarettes, far more than any other single cause, according to the New York City Fire Department. Although at least 2,300 people are killed and 5,800 are injured each year in the United States due to cigarette-related fires, this “health problem” has received little public attention, complains the director of the Burn Council in San Francisco.