Seems like a no brainer, huh? An unattended cooking fire started about 9:30 pm in the first-floor kitchen of a multi-family, two-story dwelling caused $10,000 in damages in Evanston, OH, Monday. T. No one was home at the time, so it appears that the residents must have started cooking and then left the house. When smoke rose to the second floor, those residents evacuated. No one was injured.
Never Leave Your House While Cooking
College is Stressful Enough Without Campus Cooking Fires
Statistics and information provided in this graphic can be found on the U.S. Fire Administration and the official National Fire Protection Association websites. Campus and college cooking fire safety is one of GSSI’s major goals.
Gilbert Firefighter: How to Prevent Kitchen Fires
Gilbert Arizona firefighter Mike Conner is deputy chief of Gilbert Fire & Rescue Department, Community Services Division. Here is his advice which originally appeared in the Arizona Republic website.
Question: What should I do if I have a cooking fire?
Answer: Cooking fires are the number one cause of house fires and injuries. The main contributor is unattended cooking, which is the cause of nearly 90 percent of these fires.
Fires are more likely to start in the kitchen than in any other room in your home. The National Fire Protection Association reported that in 2011 cooking was involved in an estimated 156,300 structure fires and caused 470 deaths, 5,390 injuries and more than $1 billion in property damage.
The statistic that should be an eye-opener is that more than half of reported non-fatal cooking-fire injuries occurred when people tried to fight the fires themselves. Most of these are from incorrect techniques like using water to fight a grease fire.
Never leave food that is cooking unattended — whether frying, grilling or using the broiler. If you must leave, turn off the appliance. When you’re baking, check it regularly and never leave your home.
Keep your work area clear of anything that can catch on fire: oven mitts, towels, food packaging. Loose clothing can be a danger, wear short and close-fitting sleeves when cooking. Also be aware of loose-fitting aprons that can dangle onto burners.
When using cooking oil, if it starts to boil, remove it from the heat source and let it cool before adding food. If oil catches on fire, wear an oven mitt and slide a lid over the pan or use a baking sheet to cover it. Having a lid out on the counter, even if you’re not using it, is a good idea in case of a fire. A fire extinguisher kept in the kitchen is also a great idea.
If you can’t cover a grease fire or can’t access the fire extinguisher, call 911.
Photo Montage of Cooking Disasters
Not everyone cooks so well that they can be on Top Chef or Food Network Stars. But these funny yet pathetic cooking disasters illustrate how dangerous cooking can be. Seriously, you can actually catch spaghetti on fire! Checkout these disastrous cooking FAILS!
Arlington Apartment Fire in Dallas This Weekend Preventable
The Chula Vista Apartments off East Park Row Drive kitchen fire in Dallas, our hometown, at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday was preventable. Sadly, about 45 house fires are reported every hour in the U.S., and 60 percent of apartment fires are started by cooking. Paul Rouse, Administrative Officer/Sales & Operations Director for Guardian Safety Solutions International, Inc. is a 34-year veteran of the fire industry. He says more than 12 million unintentional home cooking fires go unreported causing 640,000 injuries annually.
Rouse says Texas, as well as other states, should require mandatory range top suppression equipment in new buildings or remodels just like sprinklers and earthquake shut-off valves are. GSSI manufactures the Guardian III Model G300B, UL and ULC listed with a fuel shut-off.
“The Guardian is designed to detect and extinguish cooking fires and prevent re-ignition in private homes, apartments, senior housing, college campuses, hospitals and other facilities. Even older kitchens can be retrofitted as well,” Rouse said. (See how the Guardian works here).
Ret. Battalion Chief Educates Residents About Fires
Battalion Chief (Ret.) Robert Avsec served with the men and women of the Chesterfield County (VA) Fire and EMS Department for 26 years. He’s now using his acquired knowledge, skills, and experiences as a freelance writer for FireRescue1.com. He has some excellent ideas on educating the public about fires and how to prevent them. He emphasized that, “Cooking is the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries [And has been for many years]. Unattended cooking is the leading factor contributing to these fires. Frying is the leading type of activity associated with cooking fires. More than half of all cooking fire injuries occurred when people tried to fight the fire themselves.”
If you’d like to learn more, please read the post here.
Knoxville Fire Dept. shares recipe for spicy avocado fries
Here’s some good news for a change. The Knoxville TN Fire Department shared one of their best recipes with us via WBIR-TV. I bet the cooks don’t leave the kitchen unattended while they are making their famous avocado fries. Captain D.J. Corcoran with the Knoxville Fire Department shares his recipe for Spicy Avocado Fries.
Ingredients
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 Tbs. Ground Flax
1 Tsp. Chili Powder
1 Egg
2 Avocados
Olive Oil
Salt
Directions:
* Combine breadcrumbs, chili powder, and ground flax, place in bowl.
* In separate bowl whisk one egg.
* Dip peeled avocado slices in egg, then in breadcrumb mixture.
* Place on cooking sheet in preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes until crisp.
Captain Corcoran recommends serving with your favorite hot sauce. Yum! The Knoxville Fire Department provides free smoke detectors, installed by members of the department, inside the city of Knoxville. For information call the city’s 3-1-1 number.
Photo WBIR
Peabody, MA Resident OK After Kitchen Fire
A townhouse cooking fire resident is thankful that the American Red Cross is helping him find a place to stay after he had a kitchen fire this week. Although it was reported to be a small kitchen fire, via the Peabody Patch, the townhouse unit was affected by water and smoke damage. The resident was OK, according to officials.
Accidental Stove Fire Damages YWCA
An early morning fire at the Prince Albert YWCA on Monday was caused by combustible material being left on a stove top. A plastic kettle melted on the stove starting a fire. This is why all materials like oven mitts, paper, kitchen tools, dish towels, aprons and even post and pans should not be left on the stove where they can ignite. Read more of the story here.
Don’t Drink and Cook on New Year’s Eve
According to FEMA, in the United States fire-related injuries rank fifth among unintentional injuries, after motor vehicle crashes, poisoning, falls, and drowning. One study on published medical examiner results revealed that 42% of unintentional fire and burn fatalities were intoxicated (with a blood alcohol level greater than or equal 0.1). Another study found that alcoholics in Toronto have a fire death risk 9.7 times that of the city’s population. Further, a study of deaths in North Carolina found that 53% (69 of 130) adult victims were intoxicated, and in Alabama, more than half of the victims older than 17 tested positive for alcohol. Of the 374 fire fatalities in Minnesota from 1996 to 2002, 133 (36%) were found to have positive blood alcohol concentrations.
Moral of the story? Don’t drink and cook.
