In observance of Fire Prevention Week, Lewiston Fire Prevention Officer Paul Ouellette offers the following facts and tips on kitchen safety.
U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated annual average of 156,600 cooking-related fires between 2007-2011. The fires caused 400 civilian deaths, 5,080 civilian injuries and $853 million in direct damage.
* Two of every five home fires start in the kitchen.
* Unattended cooking was a factor in 34 percent of reported home cooking fires.
* Two-thirds of home cooking fires started with ignition of food or other cooking materials.
* Ranges accounted for 58 percent of home cooking fire incidents. Ovens accounted for 16 percent.
* Children younger than 5 face a higher risk of non-fire burns associated with cooking than being burned by cooking fires.
* Microwave ovens are one of the leading home products associated with scald burn injuries not related to fires. Forty-four percent of microwave oven injuries seen at emergency rooms in 2011 were scald burns.
* Clothing was the item first ignited in less than 1 percent of home cooking fires, but these incidents accounted for 16 percent of the cooking fire deaths.
Prevention
* The leading cause of fires in the kitchen is unattended cooking.
* Most cooking fires in the home involve the stove top.
* Always prepare foods on the lowest temperature setting allowed in the recipe.
* Never preheat cooking oils on the “high” setting.
* Never attempt to move a cooking pan that is on fire. Keep a lid that will fit on the pan nearby to smother small grease fires. Sliding the lid over the pan and turn off the stove top. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled.
* Keep anything that can easily catch on fire such as clothing, oven mitts, towels, and food packaging away from the stovetop. Keep the cooking area clean at all times.
* Never use water to try to put out a grease fire. This will only speed up and spread the fire.
* For an oven fire, keep the oven door closed and turn off the heat.
* In the event of a fire, always leave the property and call 911 from outside the building.
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