Facts About Cooking Fires

• Cooking is the leading cause of residential building fires and residential building fire injuries.
• Between 2008-2010, cooking accounted for 45 percent of residential building fires responded to by fire departments.
• Ninety-four percent of residential cooking fires are confined fires that result in little or no loss.
• Males face a disproportionate risk of cooking fire injury relative to the amount of cooking they do.
• Young children and older adults face a higher risk of death from cooking fires than do other age groups.
• Young children are at high risk from non-fire cooking-related burns.
• Unattended cooking is the leading factor contributing to cooking fires.
• Many other cooking fires begin because combustibles are too close to cooking heat sources.
• Frying is the cooking method posing the highest risk.
• More than half of the home cooking injuries occur when people try to fight the fire themselves.
• Educational effectiveness may be enhanced by linking burn prevention and fire prevention.
• Technology may be the best long-term solution to dealing with the cooking fire problem.

For more information on the mitigation of cooking fires, go HERE.

What is carbon monoxide?

• CO, often called "the silent killer," is a gas you cannot see, taste, or smell. It can be created when fossil fuels, such as kerosene, gasoline, coal, natural gas, propane, methane or wood do not burn properly.

Where does carbon monoxide come from? 

• CO poisoning can result from faulty furnaces or other heating appliances, portable generators, water heaters, clothes dryers or cars left running in garages.

What are the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning? 

• Symptoms of CO poisoning include headache, nausea and drowsiness. Exposure to undetected high levels of carbon monoxide can be fatal.

For more information on the dangers of CO poisoning, visit the FEMA website HERE.

Understand the new Washington State laws regarding carbon monoxide alarms.  Requires Adobe Reader available as a free download HERE.