# Serve Up Fire Safety in the Kitchen

/ Published Oct. 5, 2020
Richmond, Va., 
Cooking fires are the number one cause of in-home fires and injuries. The National Fire Protection Association, the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week for more than 95 years, has announced “Serve up Fire Safety in the Kitchen” as the theme for Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 4-10.

“As all of us continue to navigate the evolving situation with the coronavirus pandemic and continue to avoid restaurants due to closures or the recommendation of social distancing, we may be cooking and entertaining at home more often,” said Jamie MacFarlane, a fire inspector with the Defense Logistics Agency Installation Management Richmond’s Fire Prevention Office. “With more home cooking and the upcoming fall holiday season, there is a greater potential for fires in the home kitchen. It’s easy to forget something on the stove or to forget to cut off the coffee maker, both of which can easily start a fire. These fires can spread throughout the room and soon become house fires. Many of the house fire calls we answer off-post [as part of our mutual aid agreement with Chesterfield Country] start as kitchen fires.”

MacFarlane said so often people think they are well-versed in cooking safety techniques and that they will never be the cause of a cooking-related fire in their home, but according to the NFPA cooking continues to be a major contributor to the home fire problem.

It is recommended that you teach children fire kitchen safety, showing them which appliances get hot and why they should never touch them or electrical wires. Remind children that if a fire breaks out in the kitchen, they should get an adult or call 911 immediately and neverattempt to put the fire out with water.

**Cooking Safety Must be a Priority**

According to NFPA, **c**ooking appliances, like stoves and ovens, are the leading cause of home fires and fire injuries, causing 48% of home fires that resulted in 21% of the home fire deaths and 45% of the injuries. Approximately 66% of all home cooking fires start with the ignition of food or other cooking materials. With one of the more common reasons for the fires being unattended equipment which accounts for 32% of all reported home cooking fires and 45% of the associated deaths.

“Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, followed by Christmas Day and Christmas Eve,” said MacFarlane. “One of our fire inspectors, Eric Crognale, answered a kitchen fire call on another installation in 1999, just three years into his career, for a fire that was caused by the occupants forgetting to take a plastic cutting board out of the stove prior to cooking. Even though the damage was minimal, if it wasn’t the fire department’s quick response, the house could have burned to the ground.”

**Tips for Increasing Cooking Safety:**

Because cooking fires are so prevalent and can be so destructive, here are some basic *cooking safety* tips from the NFPA to remember so you don’t become another statistic and cause property damage to your home:
      - Always stay in the kitchen while you are frying, grilling, broiling, or cooking any food.
      - Turn off the stove or oven if you have to leave, even just for a short time.
      - Never use the stove or oven if you are sleepy or have consumed alcohol.
      - If you are simmering, baking, or roasting food, check it regularly. Remain in the kitchen while food is cooking and use a timer to remind you when to check on your food.
      - Keep everything that could possibly catch fire — oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels, or curtains — away from your stovetop.
      - If a cooking fire begins in your kitchen get your family out of the house immediately and call 9-1-1.

For additional information on these and other fire safety-related topics, please contact the DLA Installation Management Richmond, Fire and Emergency Services’ Fire Prevention Office at (804) 279-6782.