For those who have experienced fire damage - be it the loss of a home or material possessions, the experience may be traumatic; and even more so when lives were also lost on that instance. Fire damage can be devastating in so many ways, and therefore causes much regret in cases wherein the fire was brought about by simple negligence of everyday items like candles and cigarettes.

Candles are very useful in a myriad of ways. Aside from the candle's traditional use as a source of light when the electricity is out during the night, candles are more popularly used nowadays for their aesthetic value and scent; in aromatherapy, as home decors, as gifts or souvenirs, for adding "spark" to a birthday cake, and as a staple in weddings and other religious ceremonies. Yet unknown to many, a tiny candle flame can produce utterly destructive fire damage consequences. Candles can easily tilt when not placed in proper holders, or when left unattended and passed by a draft, catch fire to combustible materials commonly found in the home such as window curtains, papers, or wooden tables and chairs. Candle related fires may quickly escalate to dangerous proportions and other than cause much fire damage, endanger other people's lives. In areas where houses or buildings are positioned very close to each other, the fire will not only affect one or two families, but possibly an entire community. Just from a single candle.

In the same manner, much fire damage may also be caused by outright carelessness in disposing of cigarette butts, which are considered to be the most littered item in the world. Discarded butts are found in almost any public place, such as streets, bus terminals, parks, restaurants, even in schools and in our homes. Fires start when cigarettes which are not put out completely, encounter flammable items when thrown away. The same thing happens when the smoker falls asleep while smoking, or when cigarette ashes are just disposed of anywhere instead of in proper ashtrays. People tend to forget that a cigarette is just a small roll of finely cut tobacco wrapped in a piece of thin paper, which could burn easily when exposed to fire and cause extensive fire damage. The growing number of smokers all over the world make cigarette smoking an ever present fire-causing factor.

One needs only to remember a few things when dealing with these two common everyday items, which if not handled properly, is in fact, fire damage just waiting to happen:

* Place candles in appropriate candle holders;

* Position candles in areas where the possibility of a draft catching fire to highly flammable materials is remote;

* Never leave candles unattended;

* Extinguish candles completely when no longer in use;

* Discard cigarette butts in the proper disposal bins and make sure that these are totally snuffed out before doing so;

* Use ashtrays when smoking; and

* Always be alert and stay awake while smoking; put out the cigarette at the first sign of drowsiness.

Remember, it only takes a lone candle or cigarette butt to create a full scale fire and eventually, fire damage; yet on the other hand, it also takes but these few reminders and a good deal of presence of mind to prevent fire damage.