Cooking is often a relaxing and fun task that brings family and friends together, and it provides a great way to showcase your creativity and love of good food.
But cooking is also the number one cause of home fires and home injuries. Being mindful while you cook, however, can go a long way to helping prevent these fires.
Here's what you need to know!
- Keep an eye on what you fry
- Be alert when cooking
- Keep things that can catch fire away from cooking area
NFPA's Lisa Braxton explains how a few simple safety tips can protect you and your family from a potentially devastating home fire.
Cooking fires by the numbers
Based on 2009-2013 annual averages:
- Cooking equipment was the leading cause of home fires and fire injuries, causing 46% of home fires that resulted in 19% of the home fire deaths and 44% of the injuries.**
- Two-thirds (66%) of home cooking fires started with the ignition of food or other cooking materials.
- Clothing was the item first ignited in less than 1% of these fires, but these incidents accounted for 18% of the cooking fire deaths.
- Ranges or cooktops accounted for the majority (61%) of home cooking fire incidents. Ovens accounted for 13%.
- More than half (54%) of reported non-fatal home cooking fire injuries occurred when the victims tried to fight the fire themselves.
- Frying poses the greatest risk of fire.
- Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires.
Source: NFPA's "Home Fires Involving Cooking Equipment" report by Marty Ahrens, November 2015.
Source**: NFPA's "Home Structure Fires" report by Marty Ahrens, September 2016.
*Homes include one- and two-family homes, apartments (regardless of ownership), and manufactured housing.
Cooking safety in American Sign Language
In this presentation a series of safety recommendations are provided for preventing cooking fires, including cooking safety tips and what to do in case of fire.