How common are cooking fires?

8/5/2022 (Permalink)

Every single day, fire departments respond to a wide variety of emergencies in the communities that they serve. 

Out of all of the fires that they respond to, the bulk will be cooking fires.

Kitchen fires are by far the most common types of fires that occur in the United States and throughout the world. It's no surprise as to why - we use our kitchens every single day, and we're usually using some form of heat or open flame to cook food. 

If something goes wrong, the consequences can be deadly.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, there were over 172,000 fires caused by cooking in the US from 2014 - 2018.  These led to over $1 billion in property damage and around 550 deaths. 

Why do things go wrong in the kitchen? Usually, the culprit is not paying attention. Unattended cooking fires are the bulk of the problem.