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Prevent Kitchen Fires
The 2013 Fire Prevention Week (October 6 – 12) Theme is “Prevent Kitchen Fires”. We cook to
feed ourselves almost every day; but, just because cooking is a common activity doesn’t mean that it
is always a safe activity. Cooking can do more than just burn your food, it can burn down your home.
Like any home fire, cooking fires spread quickly, leaving you just seconds to escape safely.
The Facts
• Cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires and home fire injuries, and the
second cause of home fire deaths in Alberta.
• Most kitchen fires occur between the hours of 5 and 6 pm, the evening meal preparation
time.
• Cooking fires often occur when people leave their cooking unattended. Other activities in the
home or outside can take the attention away from a pot or pan heating on the stove.
Some common examples of unattended cooking include being distracted or pre-occupied
by talking on the phone, forgetting that the stove is turned on, watching television, reading
a book or answering the door; falling asleep; being under the influence of alcohol; or being
drowsy from medication or fatigue.
• The majority of cooking fires start with the ignition of cooking oils (vegetable oils and animal
fats).
• Most home cooking fires and injuries occur when cooking oil becomes overheated while
frying foods in pots or pans on electric stoves. However, cooking fires can also happen in
the oven, barbeque, or microwave.
The Hazards
• Cooking equipment can ignite common household items, such as paper and plastic bags or
curtains and wall coverings, and grease or fat residues.
• When cooking oils or fats are heated beyond 200 degrees Celsius, flammable vapours are
formed which are easily ignited by flames from a gas stove burner or contact with a
heated surface such as a hot electric stove element. If the oil gets hot enough, the
released vapours can self-ignite.
• Re-used oil, which may have food residues, can catch fire at an even lower temperature
than fresh oil.
• If water is added to a flaming pot of oil with a temperature above 200°C, it turns the water
into superheated steam to cause an explosive ball of fire, spreading tiny droplets of
flaming oil to engulf the kitchen area.
Safety Tips
Stand By Your Pan
• Do not leave cooking unattended. Check on your cooking regularly, and use a timer to
remind you that the stove or oven is on.
• If you must leave the kitchen when you’re cooking, even for a short period of time, turn off
the stove and remove the pot from the burner.
No Kids or Pets Allowed
• Keep children and pets away from cooking areas, for example, by enforcing a “kid-free
zone” of 1 metre around the stove.
• Use the stove’s backburners whenever possible, and turn pot handles inward to reduce the
risk that pots and hot contents will be knocked over.
Oil’s Well
• To prevent overheating and ignition of cooking oil, fry foods in a temperature controlled
deep-fat fryer or skillet designed for a maximum temperature of 200 degrees Celsius.
Be Organized
• Keep potholders, oven mitts, utensils, food packaging, paper and plastic bags, towels and
other flammable objects away from the stovetop.
• Clean food and grease from stovetops.
• Avoid wearing loose fitting clothing or dangling sleeves while cooking.
• Do not plug multiple items into the same wall socket. This may cause the circuit to overload
and short circuit, causing a fire.
Microwave with Care
• Never use an extension cord for a microwave, plug it directly into a wall socket.
• Use only microwave-safe containers to heat food.
• Allow food to cool for a minute or more before you remove it from the microwave.
• Open microwaved containers slowly as hot steam escaping from the containers can cause
painful burns.
• Never use aluminium foil or metal objects in a microwave oven.
Kitchen Fires 101
• Always keep an oven mitt and a lid nearby when cooking. If a small grease fire starts in a
pan, smother the flames by carefully sliding the lid over the pan (while wearing the oven
mitt) and turn off the burner. To keep the fire from restarting, don't remove the lid until the
pan is completely cool.
• Do not throw water on oil or grease fire. If water is added to a flaming pot of oil it can spread
droplets of flaming oil across the kitchen area. Also, do not try to move a pan of burning
oil, as the oil may splash over the edge and start new fires or inflict serious burns.
• In case of an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the door closed to prevent flames from
burning you or your clothing.
Fire Knowledge
o Did you know that the maximum time you should spend trying to fight a fire yourself from
the time the fire breaks out is only 30 seconds?
o Did you know that the amount of time you have to escape your home safely in the event of
a fire is only 1 minute?
o Did you know that a fire can actually double in size every 30 seconds?
o Did you know that if a fire breaks out in your home and the fire cannot be extinguished in
the first 30 seconds you need to get everyone out and then call the fire department?
Now you know so prepare your favorite dishes, enjoy the cooking experience and practice fire
safety in the kitchen by preventing Kitchen Fires and remember that “Safety is an Attitude”.
Keith R. Martin
Manager of Fire & Emergency Services
County of Newell
Rev. Date January 9, 2014