#1 Cause of Fire in the Home

Stove top fires are the #1 cause of fire in the home. In just minutes a house can go up in flames. We have all been guilty of leaving the stove top, coffee pot or other electric appliance unattended. Prevention seems so simple, but with so many distractions in our daily lives we probably have all been guilty in one way or another.

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. My Mum is an active senior citizen who loves to multi-task. More than once I have come into her house and smelled a horrific melt down on the cook top. While it's good for her to want to stay busy, it is another thing when she gets busy and leaves the stove unattended with a pan becoming a fire hazard on the stove. While she thinks I have become overly neurotic about fire prevention and waives me away, I would rather error on the side of caution rather than see her life become part of the statistics. Having a fire extinguisher (dry chemical type) handy is essential for putting out the fire and while a smoke alarm blares the warning when smoke has finally reached it, I needed a product that would provide first hand fire protection before a fire starts!

The stove top is the number one cause of household fires in North America.

According to the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA):

• A kitchen fire occurs every 8 minutes in the United States
• Unattended cooking is responsible for 70% of these fires
• Over 53% of Americans admit to walking away from the kitchen while cooking.
• Seniors are the highest risk group in North America
  
  • More than 1,200 Americans over the age of 65 die as a result of fire and more than 3,000 are injured due to residential fires
  • Seniors between the age of 65 and 75 have a fire death rate twice that of the national average
  • And adults between 75 and 85 are four times as likely to die from fire
  
  
• 43% of people who have died in cooking fires were asleep at the time
• Cooking accounts for 42% of all apartment fires
• Cooking is the leading cause of fire on college campuses
• Approximately 12.3 million cooking fires each year are unreported

Source: NFPA.

Statistics show we need more safety features built right into cooking appliances.

Appliance Manufacturers: If consumers are looking for more safety features, why not just include them in the new appliances? We need these sensor features, provide the options and people will buy them.

Kind of reminds us when the auto industry was slow to act in including seat belts as a standard feature in cars. It seams obvious to us now, I don't know why it should be so hard for appliance manufacturers to give us what we need to prevent the most common cause of residential fire starting at the cook top.

To convince industry that a technological solution could be developed that would significantly reduce unattended stove top fires, Consumer Reports reported the CPSC developed an experimental range that would throttle back the heat before ignition of food cooking in a pan could occur. But stiff opposition from appliance manufacturers killed the effort. Source: Consumer Reports.

Safety features are not just for the elderly.
Forgetfulness and carelessness has no age limit.

Anecdotal stories of caution from my kitchen clients.

1. Beware the power of the pro series burners: one client was so excited to test out the new pro-series cook top, the client ignored common sense and my warning and the appliance installer's warning not to use their new cook top till the vent hood was installed. The hood was back ordered, nonetheless they threw caution to the wind and had a cook top fire the very first time they used it. Quickly the lesson was learned about the roaring power of 18,000 BTU's that boils water in a minute. Before they knew it, Burnt Food! Smoke! Flames! Fire! The powerful BTU output was a far cry from the 30 year old stove. Fortunately, they reacted quickly to put out the fire and prevent it from traveling up the walls or worse. Sheepish explanations were offered "we had a little problem with the new cook top and we need a paint touch up" when the painter was called back.

But don't let a smaller BTU output of 400 mislead the seriousness of a fire igniting in a forgotten pan on the stove.

2. An unusual habit of re-heating pizza in the pizza box...in the oven. In her 25 year old oven, one client found old habits die hard. She would place the pizza box in the old oven and turn it on low heat to keep the pizza warm. We had just completed the remodel, had our final sign off from the building inspector, and she used her oven for the very first time. Lo and behold she quickly realized the power of the new electric oven when the pizza box caught on fire and she came running back into the kitchen after dosing off in the living room. There were flames inside the oven! Fortunately only the oven interior was scorched. The pizza was history.

3. Your home is a construction zone and be mindful of your habits till the work is done.
Living through a remodel people tend to forget the dangers involved. Your home is a construction zone and safety has to be considered. Larger remodel projects may mean your smoke alarms are temporarily disconnected. Before cooking in your new kitchen, make sure your smoke detectors are hooked up again and tested. Your kitchen may be fully functional but keep in mind that your local building inspector will not sign off or provide your Certificate of Occupancy until your smoke alarms are installed. And during construction be sure to keep a chemical based fire extinguisher handy in your temporary kitchen. Most people keep a hot plate and a toaster oven in the temporary kitchen during a remodel and there is just as much of a chance of having a fire on your hot plate or toaster oven as there is on your kitchen.

These homeowners were lucky they were not burned and that their homes did not burn. The NFPA statistics collected between 2002-2005 show that 90% of fire injuries and emergency room treated burns involving cooking equipment emanated from the range or oven. Cooking fact sheet.

So besides smoke alarms and fire extinguishers, what else can the public do to add additional safety features right at the source? I found a new product that has a safety feature that will work with both gas and electric cook tops.

Stove Alarm SA100. Attached to the range hood with magnets, the Stove Alarm emits a warning signal if the stove becomes too hot, or if an empty hotplate is left on. The Stove Alarm emits a warning signal long before any damage occurs. Battery life around 10 years. Click here for the brochure.
Suits all kinds of stoves, electric or gas, everywhere in the world. (not available for purchase in the United States as of this date). For ordering information and additional products,go to Paras Scandic International










I became aware of another new product last year reported through Peggy Deras's blog, Appliance Notes, where she reported on an article, Lower the Risk of Appliance Fires, from ConsumerReports.Org. Stove Guard is a devise that shuts off power to electric elements, minimizing accidental fires. Stove Guard retails in the US for $359.95.

New on the market from Stove Guard is the Pro-09-Gas for Gas Cook tops. The PRO-09-GAS model is a safety device for use with gas cooktops. It turns the gas cooktop OFF when you forget by using the advanced technology found in security monitoring devices and a specially programmed micro-controller.

The PRO-09-GAS model controls the stove’s gas supply system to help prevent food and pots from burning, as well as reducing the risk of fire caused by unattended cooking.

It has an additional feature that got my attention at my mother's house where I have come over to notice she has left a gas burner on all day and she does not smell the gas in the house. The added gas sensor will turn off the main gas valve if it senses an unsafe level of gas in the kitchen. This could be caused by a gas leak or an element flame that has gone out allowing the gas to continue to escape into the room causing the potential of a serious explosion or fire.
It retails for about $429.95 and in my opinion worth every penny!


Another product that offers safety features right at the source of fire is the Safe-T-element™. (STE), a new cooking system that can be installed on the average electric stove for under $200. The new cooking system allows the user of the stove to cook or fry as usual, but with one difference: burners cycle on and off so that food in pots and pans never becomes hot enough to catch fire. For more information about the Safe-T-element fire prevention cooking system, visit www.safetelement.com.

Are you looking at these products and thinking, well these all look clunky and will detract from the pretty new appliances? Burns look worse. Forget looks and go with safety features, especially if you have an elderly parent who may be getting more forgetful or a college student out on their own and looking after themselves for the first time.

If you have an old vent hood, consider buying a newer model that has a heat sentry for automatic heat detection and speed adjustment. Also called Auto-Start Heat Sensor. It is not to be used in place of a smoke alarm, but in conjunction with other fire prevention measure.

Basics DO's and DONT's for kitchen fire prevention in every kitchen as reported from the Consumer's Report Article, Deaths in Charlotte A Reminder of the Dangers of Kitchen Fires:

• Keep a UL-listed all-purpose fire extinguisher nearby and be familiar with how to use it.
• If you can't quickly extinguish the fire, evacuate the house and either call the fire department from your cell phone or ask a neighbor to call.
• Never douse a grease fire with water, which makes flames spread. Instead, smother it with a lid or baking soda.
• Stop an oven fire by closing the door and turning off the power.