According to the U.S. Fire Administration, in 2008 there were over 1.5 million fires in the USA and almost 2800 civilians lost their lives in home fires that year. As well, it is estimated that approximately two thirds of the fires in a home start in the kitchen. With numbers like these, it’s easy to see that a home kitchen fire can be a significant hazard and that everyone should understand how to deal with a home kitchen fire.

Preventing a fire is the best way to deal with one

• Don’t store flammable materials like towels, cardboard cereal boxes or paper bags within three feet of your stove. Also don’t store anything in your oven that could burn; the pilot light in a gas stove could be enough to ignite them.
• Regularly clean your oven and stove top. Keep your toaster or toaster oven free of any crumbs that might catch on fire.
• When working in the kitchen, avoid wearing loose fitting clothes or tops with loose fitting sleeves that could touch hot burners or flames and ignite.
• While cooking, never leave anything on the stove unattended. Cooking oil, grease, fat and even butter can self ignite if overheated, and it only takes a minute for a fire to start. Once started, a fire can quickly spread to the cupboards and walls.
• If you must leave the kitchen for a few minutes, turn the stove off.
• Keep electrical appliances (coffee maker, can opener) and their cords away from the stove, and be sure the cords don’t drag into the sink. Heat can melt the insulation on the cords, and an exposed wire can start an electrical fire.
• Baking soda makes a great, easy-to-use fire extinguisher. Keep a box of it near your stove where you can quickly reach it.
• Buy and learn how to operate a home fire extinguisher.

Dealing with a kitchen fire
If in spite of your best efforts you do have a kitchen fire, here are some tips on dealing with common types of home fires:

Oven fires
Turn the oven off, leave the door closed and call the fire department. Ovens are built to withstand high temperatures and an oven fire will often suffocate and burn out.

Grease fires
Turn off the heat (if you can safely) and call the fire department. You can try smothering the fire by pouring baking soda on the flames, then covering the pan with a lid or a cookie sheet. NEVER try to put out a grease fire using water. The water will simply spread the burning grease to other areas of the kitchen. NEVER try to carry a burning pan outside—you’ll end up burning yourself and spreading the flames around the kitchen.

Finally, remember that your personal safety is most important, so be sure to call the fire department and make sure everyone is safely out of your home before trying to fight the fire.

To locate the fire extinguisher user’s manual for the model(s) you own, visit the OwnerIQ Library.