This year’s theme for Fire Prevention Week revolves around cooking safety. Even before the pandemic caused more people to eat at home, cooking fires were the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries.
Here are some statistics on the prevalence of home cooking fires and their negative effects:
- Over a four year span, home cooking fires caused 550 civilian deaths, almost 5000 reported injuries, and over a billion dollars in property damage.
- Stovetops were the primary source of the fires, accounting for 61% of the fires reported. Electric ranges were more dangerous than gas ranges.
- Frying was a leading problem in the fires reported.
- Unattended cookware caused a third of the home cooking fires and almost half of the deaths.
- Over 25% of those killed in home fires were asleep.
- More than 50% of the injuries occurred when people attempted to put out the fires on their own.
These sobering numbers inspired the National Fire Protection Association to make cooking safety the theme of this year’s Fire Prevention Week.
We will have a new article every day with more information about how to combat cooking fire hazards and keep enjoying homecooked meals in safety.
You can review many other safety tips, including those about last year’s Fire Prevention Week theme around family fire escape plans, by visiting our blog: pyebarkerfire.com/news/category/industry-tips.
Stay tuned!
(All statistics included in this article are from the NFPA and can be found here and here.)