The list of states with such laws on the books will expand to 32 in 2009, nearly tripling the number that had such laws at the start of 2007.

After federal legislation — first proposed in 1974, and last failed in 2006 with opposition from the tobacco industry — the decision was made to change strategy and promote state requirements, said U.S. Fire Administrator Gregory Cade.

By the end of 2009, 14 states will join the 18 that already require vendors to purchase and sell only the fire-safe cigarettes, which are designed to go out if they are dropped or set aside, said Lorraine Carli, vice president of communications at the National Fire Protection Association and the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.

Fire-safe cigarettes will be mandatory in Delaware, Iowa, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas beginning Jan. 1, she said. Laws go into effect during the year in Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Washington and Wisconsin. Six more states are set to enact laws in 2010 and seven others have proposals in the works, Carli said.