Southern Utah investigators said the homeowner died inside after falling asleep in her favorite chair - holding a lit cigarette.

Starting July 1, Utah will be among 27 states that have enacted or passed laws requiring tobacco companies to stock store shelves exclusively with cigarettes designed to extinguish themselves. The so-called fire-safe cigarettes are banded with less porous paper that will stop burning if the cigarette is left unattended.

In Utah, 269 fires were traced to cigarettes from 2003 to 2007, causing six deaths and 30 injuries (three to firefighters), and resulting in more than $3 million in property losses, according to the state Fire Marshal's Office.

"The technology for these cigarettes has been known since the 1930s," said Janet Herron, Utah deputy fire marshal. "So many lives could have been saved if it had been used."

The concern among retailers is that the mandated cigarettes, also known as reduced cigarette ignition propensity, will be available to them for sale in Utah by the July 1 deadline.

"Tobacco manufacturers already are producing these products for other states," said Jim Olsen, president of the Utah Food Industry. "Now we have to make sure these products will be shipped here."

David Sutton, spokesman for Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris, said that because the tobacco distribution system is large and complicated, it's nearly impossible so say when the mandated shipments to Utah will begin.

"The products will be available in Utah by the July 1 deadline," he said.

Previously, the tobacco companies had been able to derail any federal attempts to pass safe-cigarette legislation, said Lorraine Carli, spokeswoman for the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Massachusetts that formed the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.

The coalition, in turn, went to the states.

In 2003, New York became the first state to pass legislation, followed in 2005 by Vermont and California.

David Howard, spokesman for North Carolina-based R.J. Reynolds, said the tobacco industry "has voluntarily agreed" to market only self-extinguishing cigarettes by the end of 2009.

The cost of the new products will not be higher than existing products, the industry maintains.

"We don't set price at retail, but in terms of manufacturing these products, there is an additional cost," said Howard. "But we have not passed that along to the consumer."

The Utah law was sponsored by the late Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley City, in 2007.

The legislation has exemptions for retailers needing more time, as long as they affix state tax stamps to cigarettes purchased prior to July 1.

All exemptions are set to expire by Jan. 1, 2009, when all cigarettes sold in Utah must be self-extinguishing.

dawn@sltrib.com

* Smoke outside.

* Use deep, wide ashtrays on a sturdy table.

* Never smoke where oxygen is being used.

* Keep matches and lighters out of children's sight and reach.

* Before you throw out butts and ashes, douse in water or sand to ensure they are extinguished.

* Check under furniture cushions or other likely places for cigarette butts that might have fallen out of sight.

Source: National Fire Protection Association