Avoiding Cooking Fires in the Home As the holiday season continues to be underway, more and more individuals and homemakers are preparing for the traditional holiday feasts, which for many are the highlight of the season. But with this increased strain on the kitchen the likelihood of an accidental cooking incident occurring also increases. Accidents in the kitchen while cooking can lead to personal injury and loss of property due to a house fire at any time of the year, and because of the ever present danger that can exists in unsafe cooking habits, it is vastly important for all those who do a large portion of cooking in their home to understand the basics of cooking safety. Not only can unsafe cooking practices in the home lead to destructive fires in the home, loss of property and possible physical injury for those within the home, but it can also cause the rates on home insurance in Colorado to increase for those with homeowners insurance in Colorado. To avoid all of the dangers, both physical and financial, which can spring from a cooking accident within the home, individuals and families should strive to learn together the basics of safe cooking. First, one can consider the damages done by unsafe cooking and the statistics regarding cooking being the source of fires in the home. Based off of statistics of the annual averages between the years from 2007 to 2011, unattended cooking was the leading factor in preventable home fires, and the number one source for all home fires reported. Twothirds of cooking fires in those years began with food items or other cooking materials being the first to ignite in flames, but the ignition of clothing on the person doing the cooking, which accounted for less than one percent of initial ignition sources, accounted for the high percentage of fifteen percent of fatalities related to cooking fire deaths. Most of the cooking fires in the home were produced by way of the stove range while ovens accounted for just sixteen percent of fires in the home related to cooking. Frying techniques were shown to pose the greatest risk for igniting a fire in the home and over half of the injuries reported following a cooking fire in the home occurred when the victims tried to fight the fire themselves.
These statistics show a great deal about how an individual and a family should approach cooking safety in their home. First and foremost is the statistics that unattended cooking was the leading cause of accidental fires in the home. This should indicate with clarity that all in home chefs should stay with the food being prepared as it is being prepared so as to avoid a fire due to unattended cooking. While at the same time, the statistic that shows that more than half of the injuries sustained came from people fighting the fire by themselves shows that once a fire has started that is beyond the control of the individual that the home needs to be evacuated. Remaining with the food items as they are being cooked and having a fire extinguisher on hand in the kitchen itself will be the two greatest ways to prevent a fire from arising while cooking.