How to Prevent Home Fires: Step-by-Step Instructions and Pictures

Source: Cooking Fires

The Problem
The grease in an unattended frying pan catches on fire and ignites nearby combustibles, which in turn ignite curtains, cabinets or anything else in the vicinity.

The statistics:
23% of fires, 9% of deaths

A True Fire Story
Wausau, WI—A sleeping 4-year-old girl died of smoke inhalation in a house fire that started about 30 minutes after her mother left her alone to run errands.

Apparently, a stove burner was left on under a frying pan containing grease used for frying chicken. She was the only person home at the time of the fire.

On average, every year one out of every eight homes will have a kitchen cooking fire. Cooking fires mostly occur on the cooktop, usually in the first 15 minutes of cooking. A common scenario is an unattended frying pan on a hot burner. If a fire starts, don’t carry the pan outside; slip a lid over the flames from the side to keep from burning your arm. Many grease fires become full-scale house fires when a flaming pan is carried through the house, dripping a flaming grease trail all the way to the door.