Cooking is the leading cause of home fires nationwide. Two St. Peters residents became part of this statistic on Nov. 27, when frying chicken and bacon led to fires in their kitchens. Both residences were equipped with automatic fire suppression systems, commonly known as sprinklers, that rapidly extinguished the flames, limiting damage to the buildings.
At around 10 a.m. at the Wyndham Park Apartments, 8000 Wyndham Park Dr. a resident turned her back on a frying pan of bacon, which caught fire.
“The resident panicked and poured water on the grease fire, which caused the flames to flash, setting off the fire suppression system,” Central County Fire & Rescue (CCFR) Assistant Chief Steve Brown says. “Water should never be poured on a grease fire. We are fortunate that there were no injuries or more extreme damage to her home.”
In the event of a grease fire, residents should turn off the stove and cover the flames with a lid, or use a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. If the fire has spread, residents should evacuate the house and call 911.
At around 7 p.m. CCFR responded to the second cooking fire of the day. This one was at the Turnberry Place Condominiums, at 450 Benton Dr. A resident was warming a pan to fry chicken and left the room. When she returned the pan was on fire, and the fire suppression system was putting the fire out.
“Current building codes in the area require working fire suppression systems in multi-family housing units like these apartment complexes. In these two fires, these systems helped minimize the fire damage to incidents that only required minor clean-up, and there were no injuries. Without them the fire damage and injuries could have been much more extensive,” Brown says.
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), there are more than 450 home cooking fires every day. Unattended cooking equipment is the leading cause of these fires and the leading cause of civilian fire injuries.
“Especially during the busy holiday season, it is critically important for everyone to remember safety first in the kitchen. Never leave cooking food unattended, keep items like dish towels away from the stove, and make sure children and pets stay away from the stove and oven,” Brown says.
CCFR firefighter Jake Taylor recently appeared on Fox2 to talk about grease fire prevention. Click here to see what they had to say.