Top Causes of Kitchen Fires

1/14/2020 (Permalink)

Kitchen fires are common and easily preventable

Every year there are thousands of home fires in America, some of them claim lives, and most of them cost thousands of dollars in damage and fire damage restoration bills. Fires can usually be prevented if the proper precautions are in place.

1. Unattended Cooking

Life has a way of keeping us busy, and as our lives progress, we get busier and busier. As such we are always finding ourselves being pulled in a million directions throughout our day no matter what we’re doing. Finding the time to cook a meal in the kitchen is not always so easy to come by, and while we’re doing so, it’s easy to become distracted. It may be tempting to leave your stove unattended for a few minutes while you fire back a bunch of angry tweets at some fool who disagrees with some dumb thing you believe but try to relax and stay focused on your food. The person you want to sling a bunch of angry pixels to on whatever social media platform you’re currently raging on isn’t real and can’t hurt you, the fire on your stove that you aren’t paying attention to can. It can burn your whole house down and snatch your life away if you aren’t careful.

2. Foods that Can Ignite

Certain foods are combustible when they get hot. Some examples of combustible foods are flour, oil, alcohol, sugar, garlic, and fatty meats. Since oil is so flammable, always clean leftover food and grease that is on stovetop, oven, toaster oven or counters that are near cooking surfaces. Make sure that when you are frying food, you do not put too much oil in your pots and pans. If oil does catch fire, do not under any circumstances try to put it out with water or any flour or powder based household item. Water will not help a grease fire, and flour or another powder will explode in a violent fireball. Instead, cover it with a pot lid or use flower or deploy your kitchens fire extinguisher, if you’re reading this and don’t have one stop right now and buy one, NOW! If you have got one check it and make sure it’s not expired and that it is rated safe for use in kitchen fires since not all of them are.

3. Unsafe Kitchen Attire

Avoid cooking in loose clothing like bathrobes and baggy pajamas. Clothing can catch fire if it comes too close to a fire. Tie back hair when you are working in the kitchen so that it does not catch on fire. You should be doing this anyway so you don’t find hair in your food since that is not very appealing.

4. Cluttered Counters

Keep combustible items away from cooking surfaces. Move all paper towels, dish towels, food packages, and pot holders away from cooking surfaces. If something can catch fire keep it away from open flames and heat sources.

If you have had a kitchen fire, you know you will need a fire damage restoration company to help restore your home. Fire is tremendously dangerous and must be recognized for the potentially life-threatening thing that it is. Be careful when cooking and always remember that carelessness kills thousands of people each year, if you’re not careful in the kitchen you’re asking for trouble.

If you sustain a fire damage please call SERVPRO of Lynn/Lynnfield at 781.593.6663 . We understand the intricacies of putting a home together after a damaging fire.