Is Your North Nashville Kitchen Fire-Safe?

12/15/2022 (Permalink)

Cooking is such a normal part of daily life that it’s easy to forget high temperatures can quickly start a fire. During 2014–2018, cooking was the leading cause of reported home fires and injuries and the second leading cause of home fire deaths! 

Fire departments in the U.S. reported an average of 172,900 home structure fires per year; these fires resulted in an average of 550 civilian deaths and 4,820 civilian injuries.

Given these facts, staying safe in your North Nashville kitchen should be a top priority! Keep reading for some more kitchen fire-related information.

What Are Some Important Kitchen Fire FAQs I Need To Know?

Here is some vital home/kitchen fire information you should be aware of:

• Home fires caused by cooking will peak at Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 2018, fire departments responded to an average of 470 cooking fires in homes daily.
• Ranges or cooktops were involved in 61% of reported home cooking fires, 87% of cooking fire deaths, and 78% of cooking fire injuries during 2014-2018.
• Did you know? Households that use electric ranges have a higher risk of cooking fires and associated losses than those using gas ranges!
• Unattended cooking is the leading cause of cooking fires and casualties. Clothing was the item first ignited in less than 1% of these fires, but clothing ignitions led to 8% of the home cooking fire deaths.
• More than one-quarter of the people killed by cooking fires were asleep when the fire started, while more than half of the non-fatal injuries occurred when people tried to control the fire themselves.

What Are Some Top Fire Safety Tips I Should Practice In My North Nashville Kitchen?

Here are some top fire safety tips for you and your family to follow to keep everyone safe:

• Use adequately insulated materials such as mitts and gloves explicitly designed to handle hot metals. Using thin or damp fabric can result in burns.
• Turn all pot handles toward the back of your stovetop to avoid spills and prevent children from reaching for handles hanging over the edge. Pots and pans should be used from back to front on stovetops. Keeping cookware toward the back of the stove reduces the risk of spills and fire.
• Don’t put any form of metal in the microwave, including tinfoil, and use microwave-safe cookware wherever possible. The FDA recently recommended against using melamine-based cookware in your microwave as it was found that melamine can slowly transfer to foods at higher temperatures.
• Never operate kitchen equipment if sleepy, intoxicated, or on medication that can cause dizziness or drowsiness. A lapse in focus can increase the risks of injury or fire.
• When cooking, clear the stovetop of flammable materials; this includes oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels, or curtains. Keep stove interiors and stovetops clear of spilled food that can eventually smoke or catch fire.
• Knowing how to respond to different kitchen fires is vital to staying safe. Keep a class B dry chemical fire extinguisher and the lids to pots and pans nearby.

SERVPRO of North Nashville is proud to serve the North Nashville community. Our highly trained team is skilled in completing restoration projects of all kinds! In addition to fire and water damage restoration, we are mold remediation experts. 

This franchise is independently owned and operated.