STOPPING smoking could save your life in more ways than one, according to Wiltshire Fire and Rescue service.

To mark National No Smoking Day, Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service issued a reminder on the danger of lit cigarettes in the home.

Across Wiltshire last year, the fire service was called to 22 accidental house fires caused by smoking materials, the same as in 2010 and an increase on 2009 when there were 17 incidents.

Station manager Kathy Collis, from the community safety department, said: “Unfortunately, it is far too easy to accidentally leave a cigarette burning in an ashtray, or to fall asleep while smoking.

“It’s a sad fact more people die in smoking-material-related fires than any other. While cigarettes are the cause of less than 10 per cent of all fires, they actually account for around a third of all fire deaths.

“A cigarette can burn at up to 700°C – imagine leaving something that hot on or next to a settee, bed, carpet or curtains.

“It is absolutely vital you always make sure cigarettes are properly extinguished – your life, and the lives of others in your home, could literally depend on it.”

Accountant Eileen Gray, 54, died after a lit cigarette caused a fire in her home back in 2008.

The fire service was called to the property in Three Sisters Road, Wanborough, where firefighters found Mrs Gray unconscious due to smoke inhalation in an upstairs bedroom.

She was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.

An inquest at Trowbridge Town Hall in 2010 heard from station officer Mike Bagnall, a fire investigation specialist with Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, who said smoking material most likely caused the fire.

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service offers free home fire safety checks – to see if you qualify for a visit, call 0800 389 7849 or see www.wiltsfire.gov.uk