After the ban on smoking on the balconies, I don’t know how to combat a new habit: it poses many more dangers.

An amendment to the law states that smoking is currently prohibited in shared housing (applies to shared bathrooms, toilets, hallways and other common areas in an apartment whose rooms are owned by individual owners); in other common partially owned premises and in other parts of the building (applies to common stairs, corridors, basements, attics, kitchens, bathrooms, etc.); Apartment building on the balconies, terraces, loggias, owned by individual owners, when at least one resident of the house objects to smokingI.

The amended law is only in effect for two months, but some residents of the capital share on Facebook that neighbors smoking they saw on the balcony earlier suddenly disappear and probably not because they stopped smoking, but started doing it at home. Another person on the social network shared that the smell of cigarettes in the house had been slight but still smelled for several days, possibly due to a neighbor smoking inside the apartment. In his opinion, the smell enters through the internal ventilation system, because in cold weather the windows are closed, and in the common areas there is no smoking either.

Others also don’t know how to fight if a neighbor smokes in the bathroom, because when you turn on your kitchen hood, an annoying smell spreads everywhere.

There is also a concern that smoking inside the apartment increases the risk of fire.

The Municipality of Vilnius City, Delfi, has confirmed that it is already receiving complaints that there is now more smoking in apartments, but adds that there is no way to verify that smoke from a particular apartment actually enters another apartment. He also noted that the list of non-smoking apartments is not classified and is publicly available HERE.

See various threats

Although it is not always possible to organize ventilation in older apartment buildings if smokers decide to do it in their own home, asking the head of the State Fire Supervision Department, Aurimas Gudžiauskas, if it is really necessary to fear that smoking increases in their homes. apartments. He said those fires happen every year.

“You can immediately mention that this is the most life-threatening cause of fires. It is due to careless smoking that most people die in the fire. As for the number of fires, for example, the number of fires caused by smoking varies between 200 and 300.

In the last year there were 241 fires and 38 people died. It can be said that around 40 of all those killed in fires are people who have died as a result of careless smoking. “

Speaking about how the requirement to ban smoking on the balconies of an apartment building could affect the increase in the number of fires of this type, A. Gudžiauskas explained that so far it is very difficult to say much about it.

“Apparently, only by counting the statistics of this year and comparing them with previous years, we will be able to draw conclusions. However, it can be said that we are seeing a greater smoking problem in rural areas, as more people die in rural areas and in individual homes due to neglected smoking. In many apartment buildings, the number of deaths from neglected smoking is significantly lower than in rural areas, that is, four times. “

However, he emphasized that fires caused by careless smoking are more common in cities than villages, but are simply more noticeable, extinguished and have less tragic consequences. A. Gudžiauskas said that now it is only possible to guess whether the number of such fires would increase from the balcony if smokers switched to smoking in their rooms.

“After we were interested in the statistics, we noticed that there were many fires on the balconies of the apartment buildings due to the smoke fall. When people smoked on the balconies, they didn’t always put out their cigarettes, they just threw them away, and the smoke from the heights fell on the neighbors on the balconies, or even on the balconies where they smoked, there were bonfires ”.

According to the specialist, his service also sees such a threat that those who decide to smoke indoors can remove the batteries from autonomous smoke detectors, and this would also be dangerous if a fire breaks out in the future.

“The worst thing is smoking while lying in bed, because that is exactly the most common reason people die. You should not smoke in bed and do it in a state of alert so that people do not fall asleep with a snuff in hand while smoking. Also, the fumes should always be turned off so that you don’t even smoke. To do this, it is convenient to use an ashtray or some container with water. Still, the main advice would be that it is better to smoke outside. “