Ohio State Fire Marshall warns against smoking on oxygen and offers a tool to stay safe

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Don’t smoke while on oxygen. That’s a warning from the Ohio State Fire Marshall, a consumer alert to stay away from smoking or other uses of open flames while on home oxygen therapy.

If you do intend to smoke, make sure first to turn off the oxygen completely, remove the cannula, and step outside away from any oxygen equipment. Additionally, oxygen users should keep all open flames, such as gas stoves and candles and heat sources away from oxygen tubing and tanks.

“We’ve found that in the last two-and-a-half years, we’ve lost 51 people in the state of Ohio from smoking incidents. The greatest majority of those smoking incidents are smoking on oxygen. It’s a deadly, deadly act. We don’t want people to smoke on oxygen,” said Anita Metheny, Fire Prevention Bureau Chief. “Not only are they suffering burns to their airway, once they are smoking and light up with that oxygen on, but the additional problem is that now that fire’s traveling down the tubing and it’s lighting the entire house around them.”

An additional safety net when utilizing oxygen is a device called a thermal fuse, which can be installed in your oxygen system. These small devices will stop the flow of oxygen once a fire is detected, quickly stopping it from spreading further.

“If you want a thermal fuse, you know, you can call your fire department to see if they are participating in our program. They’re fairly inexpensive, under $10, I think the marshall’s office paid between $4 and $6 for each one of these. Highly affordable,” Metheny said. “Not only that, but you can call your oxygen companies and see if they can actually bill for it. ”

More fire safety tips can be found on the state of Ohio’s Department of Commerce’s website and clicking on the education and training tab.