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It looks like a toy. It's small like a toy, lights up like a toy, it even makes noises like a toy, but it's not a toy.

The miniature bowling pin flashed its blue and red lights when Kenai Fire Marshal Eric Wilcox flipped the top open. When he pressed the side of the pin, a flame shot up, invisible at first then a dark green. After he demonstrated how the lighter works, Wilcox placed the bowling pin back on his desk with three other novelty lighters: a bullet, a 10-inch shotgun and a target. The lighters came from a tobacco store in Soldotna where Wilcox paid $15.29 for them, he said. And even though he came away with four, Wilcox said there were other lighters at the store, some more enticing to little hands than those in his possession

"They were cheap," he said. "(They were) right out on the sales floor, located low."

There were lighters that looked like pigs and lighters that looked like frogs, Wilcox said. They would make noises and the frog's eyes would light up when you pressed a button. Press the button all the way flames would shoot out right at you, he said.

To many fire marshals, novelty lighters are as dangerous as a loaded gun when kids get hold of them. That's why during National Arson Awareness Week, which started on Sunday and lasts until Saturday, the Kenai Fire Department and Central Emergency Services plans to disseminate information about the dangers these lighters pose.

"Our local tobacco shops in our areas are carrying the novelty lighters," said CES Fire Marshal Gary Hale. "Most lighters have to be child-resistant. The industry has mainly taken that cute little toy and now made it as dangerous as a gun."

Hale has his own stash of novelty lighters, most obtained from local tobacco retailers. There's a guitar and a shot gun shell, a pair of dice that light up and a fire extinguisher. A siren goes off when you activate the fire extinguisher, Hale said.

Although he couldn't say whether novelty lighters were responsible, Hale said approximately 95 percent of the fires he's investigated over the last five years have involved lighters. Child-resistant lighters are accessible, he said, and they're cheap. Stores sell them next to cash registers, three or four for a dollar. And, Hale said, the bins are about a 5-year-old's height.

"I can't see anything in state laws that prohibits you from buying a lighter," Hale said. "You may question it like people (do) for cigarettes. I can't remember ever seeing a law that prohibits you from buying a lighter."

While lighters haven't been banned outright, several states in the country have banned the sale of novelty lighters. Europe took a stand against novelty lighters by banning them in 2006. Maine and Tennessee were among the first to ban novelty lighters, and Dave Tyler, director for the Alaska Division of Fire and Life Safety, wants Alaska to follow suit. Plans for legislation banning novelty lighters are in their infancy right now, but will probably be addressed at the next legislative session this fall, Mahlon Greene, public education coordinator for the Alaska Division of Fire and Life Safety, said. Some states have opted for putting all lighters behind lock and key, Greene said.

Tyler wants to ban novelty lighters completely and lock up all others.

"We haven't sat down and really come up with a strategy," Greene said. "He does want to ban novelty lighters from sale in the state of Alaska. It's something he's going to spearhead and push for."

Greene said he believes the likelihood of a statewide ban on novelty lighters has a good chance of becoming law. Legislators and Gov. Sarah Palin have been supportive of the Division of Fire and Life Safety. Very few changes have been made to the division's budget and there have been child fatalities involving lighters.

"It's a big deal because we're trying to focus a lot of our efforts right now on the juvenile fire-setting program because it's becoming alarming," he said. "The novelty lighters are just another part of that."

When Hale visits peninsula schools and educates students about fire safety, his message about lighters and matches is simple: Don't touch it, find an adult. A few years ago, he said, his fire prevention education would tell kids to take the lighters and matches to an adult.

"At some period of time, children were making a U-turn to their bedrooms and it wasn't a day after I'd been in the school that I'd get a call about a juvenile fire-setter because of this very problem," Hale said. "We realized we needed to change the education."

Kenai Fire Chief Mike Tilly said outlawing novelty lighters would be a big step toward preventing fire-related injuries involving children.

"It's pretty much standard in Europe where they have worked hard on getting this passed to where they've outlawed novelty lighters," he said. "They don't serve any purpose. Fire is a tool, not a toy."

Jessica Cejnar can be reached at jessica.cejnar@peninsulaclarion.com.