Cooking Fire Safety | Travelers Insurance (2024)

Cooking Fire Safety | Travelers Insurance (1)

By Travelers Risk Control

2 minutes

Home Fire Safety Tips

Cooking Fire Safety | Travelers Insurance (2)

Cooking is a common cause of home structure fires and home fire-related injuries. Whether preparing for a family dinner or making a quick snack, practicing safe cooking behaviors can help keep you and your family safe.

  • Never leave your range or cooktop unattended while cooking.If you have to leave the room, turn your range or cooktop off.
  • Wear short, close-fitting or tightly rolled sleeves.Loose clothing can hang down onto hot surfaces and can catch fire if it comes in contact with a gas flame or electric burner.
  • Keep your cooking area clean and free of combustible materials.Food wrappers, oven mitts or other materials left on or near the stove may catch fire.
  • Be sure to clean up any spilled or splattered grease.Built-up grease can catch fire in the oven or on the cooktop.
  • Keep a fire extinguisher readily available.Having an extinguisher nearby is important, but you also need to have the correct type of extinguisher and knowhow to properly use it.
  • Never throw hot grease in the garbage as it can ignite combustible materials.Be sure to let grease cool and consider disposing it in an old can, such as a metal coffee can.
  • Do not store food or other itemsin your oven.It can be easy to forget there is an item in your oven, and this could catch fire while preheating.

What to Do if a Cooking Fire Flares Up

By exercising caution in your kitchen, you can help reduce the risk of a kitchen fire. But if a fire does flare up, you need to be prepared.

  • Your safetycomes first. If you cannot safely extinguish the fire, leave the scene, call 911 for help and let the fire department control the fire.
  • If a small fire flares up and you are going to try to extinguish it, call 911 for help first.A fire may grow out of controlmore quickly than you anticipate. It is safer to have help already on the way.
  • Smother a grease fire – never throw water on a grease fire. The water can be superheated and change to steam that can cause severe burns. Also, it can cause oil to splash up and spread the fire. If a grease fire starts in a pan, smother the flames by sliding the lid – while wearing an oven mitt – over the pan. If safe to do so, turn off the heat source. Do not move the pan; keep the lid on until the fire is out and the pan is completely cool.
  • If a fire starts in your oven, keep the door closed and turn off the heat source.Keeping the door closed will help smother the flames. Do not open the door until the flames are completely out.
  • If a fire starts in your microwave, turn off the microwave and do not open it until the fire is completely out.Unplug the microwave only if you can safely do so.

Learn more about Travelershomeowners insurance to protect your home.

Cooking Fire Safety | Travelers Insurance (3)

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FAQs

What is fire safety questions? ›

Fire Safety Quiz Questions and Answers

Question: What are the three elements of the fire triangle? Question: What does the “PASS” acronym stand for in relation to using a fire extinguisher? Question: Which of the following fire extinguishers is suitable for extinguishing Class A fires?

What is the fire safety while cooking? ›

Stay in the kitchen while you're frying, grilling, boiling or broiling food. If you have to leave the room—even for just a moment—turn off the stove. Keep your cooking area free of combustible materials. Keep anything that can catch fire, such as food packaging, oven mitts and towels, away from your stovetop.

What is the leading cause of fires in the kitchen? ›

The No. 1 cause of all cooking fires is leaving the stove unattended. Because cooking is something that is done daily, it's easy to forget how dangerous it is to heat grease or oil at a high temperature. People oftentimes walk away from a hot stove “just for a minute” — and that “minute” can turn deadly.

Do not leave the stove unattended while cooking.? ›

Never leave cooking food on the stovetop unattended, and keep a close eye on food cooking inside the oven. Unattended cooking is the leading cause of home cooking fires. Three in every 10 reported home fires start in the kitchen - more than any other place in the home.

What are the 3 safety questions? ›

The three basic process safety questions
  • Do you understand what can go wrong? Answering this question requires you to really understand your risks. ...
  • Do you know what your systems are to prevent this from happening? ...
  • Do you have information to assure they are working effectively?

What is the fire question answer? ›

Fire is a chemical reaction that converts a fuel and oxygen into carbon dioxide and water. It is an exothermic reaction, in other words, one that produces heat.

What is the biggest fire hazard in the kitchen? ›

Grease is one of the most dangerous fire hazards in kitchens because of how quickly it can build up from a day's use and how flammable it is if a fire were to break out.

What are the three types of kitchen fires? ›

A Drawback of Multitasking
  • But in the spirit of prevention… Here are 3 different types of kitchen fires and specifically what to do about each of them.
  • Dry Cooking Fires. ...
  • Oven Fires. ...
  • Grease Fires.

What are 2 things you should not do if a kitchen fire occurs? ›

Put a lid on grease fire

Never put water onto a grease fire. Put a lid on the pot or over the pan, turn off the stove, and call 911. Don't try to move the pot outside.

Where do most kitchen fires start? ›

Unattended cooking is the leading cause of most kitchen fires. Walking away while cooking, even for a moment, can easily become a hazardous situation. It is never a good idea to multi-task or walk around your house when cooking with an open flame or when the stove is set to a high temperature.

How to prevent burns in the kitchen? ›

Create a space of at least three feet around your stove and other areas where hot food is prepared. Keep your cooking area free of flammable materials. Keep anything that can catch fire, such as food packaging, oven mitts, and towels away from your stovetop. Turn pot handles toward the back of the stove.

How many fires are caused by cooking? ›

Cooking caused an average of 158,400 reported home structure fires per year (44 percent of all reported home fires in the US). These fires resulted in an average of 470 civilian deaths (18 percent of all home fire deaths) and 4,150 civilian injuries (42 percent of all reported home fire injuries) annually.

Is unattended cooking the number one cause of home fires? ›

Every year, fire departments respond to more than 170,000 home fires caused by cooking. The top reason for these fires is someone leaving the stove unattended while cooking.

What not to do with a stove? ›

STOVE AND OVEN SAFETY
  1. Never leave cooking food unattended. ...
  2. Grease fires must never be extinguished by water. ...
  3. Never use flour or water to extinguish a cooking fire. ...
  4. Should a pan fire occur, use a fire extinguisher, baking soda, or a tight-fitting metal lid to extinguish the fire.

What happens if you leave the stove on for 24 hours? ›

If there is nothing in the oven or on the stovetop that could catch fire or otherwise cause a problem, there is no harm except for wasted electricity. The oven can sit at 350 F for hours, weeks, or longer with no harm, and a stovetop burner can be on for weeks with no harm.

What is fire safety in simple words? ›

Fire safety is the set of practices intended to reduce the destruction caused by fire. Fire safety measures include those that are intended to prevent ignition of an uncontrolled fire, and those that are used to limit the development and effects of a fire after it starts.

What are the 5 key elements of fire safety? ›

What are the 5 main components of a Fire Risk Assessment?
  • Identifying Fire Hazards. ...
  • Identifying People at Risk. ...
  • Evaluate, Remove or Reduce the Risks. ...
  • Record Your Findings, Prepare an Emergency Plan and Provide Training. ...
  • Review and Update the Fire Risk Assessment Regularly.
Apr 5, 2023

What are the five points of fire safety? ›

Install Smoke Alarms in Your Place. Stay on Top of Your Electrical Wiring System. Keep Your Heating Equipment in Check. Take Special Fire Precautions in the Kitchen.

What is a safety question? ›

What are safety questions? Safety questions are inquiries that a manager can pose to their team members to learn about their understanding of workplace safety procedures. A safety question might explore a broad topic, such as how to maintain general safety.

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