Tobacco Documents Online

PHILIP MORRIS U. S. A. INTER-OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE RICHMDRD. VIRGINIA Te: Dr. R. B. Seligman oatec October 26- Iqzg Fro.: W. F. Gannon~ ~ ~ Subjeat: Visit of Dr. Joseph Clark At the request of Mr. Robert E. Bateman, I « n` spent several hours on Monday, October 25, 1976, talking Lvx. ^ with Dr. Joseph Clark, Associate Administrator of the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration (United States Department of Commerce). Dr. Clark was in Richmond to address a group of safety and fire prevention engineers. ; Several years ago, Mr. Horace %ornegay, President of the Tobacco Institute, discussed with the President of Plastics Engineers Society the problems associated with cigarettes causing fires in homes. To date, no indications of activity from the tobacco _.~ industry have been evidenced; therefore, Dr. Clark " took this opportunity to visit the Research Center to elicit interest in this problem from Philip Morris. ~ - According to Dr. Clark, there are five to six : thousand deaths per year in the United States which can ' be directly attributed to careless disposal of cigarettes, thus leading to.ignition of furniture, bedding, or clothing. .t . The problem stems mainly from the fact that a discarded c; cigarette which falls on a chair or sofa will ultimately roll into a crevice and eventually cause ignition oP.the .upholstered piece. It has been shown that the reflected `; radiation from several sides of a piece of furniture ` will lead to ignition; whereas, if a cigarette lies on a flat cushion, the cigarette will eventually go out ti and no fire will ensue. If a cigarette is covered on top and/or bottom by a piece of paper or a sheet, the /-~ reflected heat will char through these materials and O cause ignition of the upholstered furniture. ~ r,;