A home fire can spread in less than 30 seconds, causing thousands of dollars in damages and potentially even death [1]. That’s why home fire safety should be a priority in your home! Most home fires are because of malfunctioning equipment or improper handling of grease. 

In this article, we’ll go over a few safety tips to help you safeguard your property, possessions and family from fire and smoke inhalation.

How often does a house fire occur in the United States?

In an average year, firefighters are called to a U.S. fire every 23 seconds and a home fire every 89 seconds. An average of one fire fatality occurs every three hours and 24 minutes, and one fire injury occurs every 46 minutes [3].

What time of year do most home fires happen?

According to the NFPA, most home fires from 2015 to 2019 happened between November and March. During these colder months, people are more likely to be at home. Most home fires happen between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm when people cook dinner or do other household chores [2].

Spring typically sees a surge in outside fires and a decrease in heating-related fires. The most common spring fires relate to organic matter, such as brush or grass fires [5].

In summer, incendiary fires and arson-related fires increase as the weather changes and people spend more time outside. Other fires in the summer are from fireworks and lightning storms.

Fall has the lowest chance of a home fire. Outside fires occur less often, but heating-related and cooking fires increase as the weather cools off.

Fires increase around several specific holidays, besides the general winter holiday season (including Christmas, New Year’s, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa).

• Independence Day
• Halloween
• Thanksgiving

What are some common causes of house fires?

Many home fires are caused by five common instances:

1. Cooking

2. Heating equipment

3. Electrical and lightnight equipement  

4. Arson

5. Smoking materials

Cooking fires

Cooking fires often start in the kitchen when grease or other cooking equipment catches on fire.

While cooking fires are the leading cause of home fires and injuries in the home, they rank low for casualties and are in last place for fire damages.

From 2015 to 2019, cooking fires caused an average of

• 169,400 fires per year.
• 540 deaths and 4,670 injuries per year.
• $7,100 loss in reported damages per residence.
• $1.2 billion in property loss or damages.
• 470 home cooking fires happened every day in 2018.
• Cooking fires are more common on Thanksgiving and Christmas than on any other day.

[Source 1] [Source 2]

Unattended cooking fires are the leading reason behind kitchen fires. Other kitchen fires involve clothing catching on fire and cooking oil and grease fires.

Even though clothing ignition happened in less than 1% of home cooking fires, it still led to about 8% of home cooking fire deaths.

Grease fires can happen from built-up layers of grease around your kitchen, inside your oven, or from oil that catches fire on your stovetop.

Use a Class B, Class K, or multipurpose fire extinguisher to handle kitchen grease fires.

How to prevent cooking fires

Keep your kitchen clean and never leave your cooking unattended.

• Remove anything flammable from your stove, including spices, dishtowels or other items that might catch and spread a kitchen fire.
• Keep an appropriate fire extinguisher close by, but remember that it can contaminate your kitchen, so you should only use it as a last resort.
• Install fire alarms and make sure they’re correctly working annually.
• Always watch your food when cooking.
• Keep long hair, dangling jewelry, or clothes close to your body and away from the flames to avoid combustion.

You can use a degreaser on built-up layers of grease and follow a regular cleaning schedule on walls and other work surfaces to prevent grease fires. You should scrub your pans to reduce residue build-up.

•  Use an oil with a higher smoke point, like canola or corn oil, and if the oil starts to excessively smoke, carefully and slowly remove it from the fire to avoid combustion.
•  Never use a turkey fryer indoors. And always follow the manufacturer’s instructions when using them outside.
•  Never, under any circumstances, try to extinguish a grease fire with water.

If a grease fire happens, you can help contain it by turning the heat off and placing a metal lid or cookie sheet on top of the pan to smother the fire. You can use baking soda or salt in a pinch, but you'll need enough to cover the grease fire completely.

If the cooking fire becomes significant, retreat to safety and call 911.

Heating appliances

Heating equipment fires typically follow a seasonal shift, when they are more common during colder months. These fires can include the combustion of space heaters, wood-burning stoves, fireplaces and chimneys, as well as central heating systems or water heater fires.

• Fires from heating equipment are the number one cause of fires in homes throughout the U.S.
• Space heaters caused eighty-one percent of heat equipment deaths and 81% of injuries.
• Space heaters were also responsible for 54% of property damage.
• Nearly half of heating equipment fires happened from December to February.

From 2014 to 2018:

• Fire departments responded to approximately 48,530 heating equipment fires annually.
• Heating equipment fires caused 500 deaths and 1,350 injuries.
• $1.1 billion in property damages occurred.

[Source 6]

Safety tips when dealing with heating equipment

 A quarter of heating equipment fires happen because chimneys aren’t properly cleaned or maintained, so it’s essential to have a regular cleaning schedule for these items. You should also have them inspected annually by a professional to ensure your vents are working correctly.

And some newer space heater models offer improved safety standards. For example, a newer model may automatically turn the heater off if you tip it over. If you have an old space heater, now is an excellent time to upgrade.

More safety tips:

• Keep anything flammable at least three feet away from heating equipment.
• Never use an oven or a gas grill indoors to heat your home. This is not only a fire hazard but also a source of carbon monoxide.
• Turn off or unplug any portable heaters when you leave the room.
• If you have a fireplace, ensure that you’ve installed an ember screen to reduce the chance of flying embers into your home.
• If you ever need to install or upgrade space heating equipment like water heaters or central heaters, hire a qualified professional familiar with the local codes.
• Never add hot ashes to a bin; ensure they’ve cooled off first.

 Use a Class C fire extinguisher for electrical fires.

Smoking materials

From 2012 to 2016, fires from smoking materials annually caused:

• 18,100 home structure fires.
• 590 people's deaths and 1,130 injuries.
• $476 million in property damages.

 [Source 7]

Where do smoking fires originate?

A majority of home fire deaths started in the bedroom (34%) and living room (43%). Therefore, ‌exercise caution when smoking indoors, especially near upholstery and linens.

• Eighteen percent of fires from smoking materials start on an exterior balcony or open porch.
• Thirty-eight percent of victims were killed by fires that started on upholstered furniture.
• Mattresses or bedding catching fire from smoking materials causes 29% of deaths.
• Even though fires that started from a mattress or its linens were 10% of the overall fires, these fires still caused 29% of the total deaths.
• Fires that started on furniture (7%) caused 38% of the overall deaths.

[Source 7]

How to prevent fires from smoking materials:

• The risk of these fires increases if you also use medical oxygen while smoking or if you are under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medications. It’s important to be awake and aware if you choose to smoke indoors.
• If you smoke indoors, avoid smoking near flammable materials like curtains, beds or other linens and upholstery.
• Always put out cigarettes when you start to feel sleepy.
• People that don’t smoke are less likely to experience fires from smoking materials. People who smoked outside also have a lower chance of dying from this type of fire.

What fire extinguisher should you use for smoking-related fires?

Use a Class A or Multipurpose ABC fire extinguisher on fires from typical combustible equipment like wood, cloth, plastic or paper. The Multipurpose ABC extinguisher can handle ordinary combustibles, flammable liquids, gasses or electrical equipment.

Electrical and lighting equipment 

From 2015 to 2019, fires involving electrical and lighting equipment, electrical failure or electrical malfunction accounted for 78,860 home fires in the United States.

Of these fires, electrical failure or malfunction caused 390 civilian deaths and 1,330 injuries per year and around $1.5 billion in home damage. Electrical distribution and lighting equipment fires caused slightly more deaths per year, at 430, but fewer injuries (1,070). Each year, about $1.3 billion in damages was reported from this type of fire.

• Electrical distribution and lighting equipment fires began in the bedroom more than in any other room.
• Electrical fires from malfunctioning equipment were the second-highest cause of electrical home fires.
• In 33% of homes, malfunctioning electrical wires or cable insulation were the first items to catch fire.

[Source 8]

Tips for preventing electrical and lighting equipment fires:

Electrical fires can happen from malfunctioning, damaged, or ill-fitted equipment, as well as overloaded outlets. If you have damaged plugs, ‌fix or replace them.

• Don’t force electronics into plugs, since this could harm the device and the plug.
• Never remove prongs to get them to fit into an outlet.
• Never plug too many things at once into an outlet, since this may overburden it.
• You should only use extension cords temporarily. Add safety closures and ensure they’re placed out of high-traffic areas to avoid anyone tripping over them.
• When working on electrical appliances, always turn the breaker off to prevent injury.
• If you’re moving into a new home, have an electrician check the wiring to ensure it’s up to code.

 [Source 8]

Use a Class C fire extinguisher for electrical fires.

Intentional fires

The National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) defines a deliberate flame as a fire caused by someone purposefully misusing a heating source or incendiary fire. A lighter or match causes more than half of these fires.

Every year, firefighters respond to about 52,260 structure fires that are intentionally set.

From 2014 to 2018…

• These fires cause 400 civilian deaths and 950 injuries per year.
• $815 million in property damages annually.
• 3/5 fires were set on residential properties.
• 1/3 of these fires were ignited outdoors, on lawns or fields. Inside the home, bedrooms and kitchens were the most popular places for intentional fires to be set.
• The most common time for intentional fires was between 4 to 9 pm.

 [Source 9]

What happens when your house is on fire?

A spark can ignite quickly and spread into a full-blown fire in less than a minute. If it comes from a grease fire, that grease can splatter and ignite, traveling across your stovetop and lighting other items on fire. If the grease fire is still manageable, you can ‌smother it with a metal lid or a cookie sheet.

If not, you may need to use the proper fire extinguisher or call 911. Never move a pan with a grease fire, as doing so could splatter you with hot grease or catch other things in your kitchen on fire.

What happens if you breathe in fire smoke?

The fire creates smoke that rises with the super-heated air as it burns. Smoke inhalation can be dangerous, especially for anyone with respiratory conditions, infants and the elderly.

According to Warren “Chip” Knapp, Interior Firefighter and EMT, “Most of the time, people die from carbon monoxide poisoning or smoke inhalation.”

Even breathing in smoke for a short period can cause immediate ill effects and damage your eyes, throat and nose. Other symptoms include nausea and difficulty breathing.

Inside this smoke, you’ll find a mix of dangerous gasses that include:

• Carbon monoxide
• Carbon dioxide
• And other particulate matter

The type of chemicals released will depend on what the fire is burning, how much oxygen is in the room, and how hot the flames are.

If you catch the flame quickly, you might be able to ‌smother it out. But many things these days burn hotter and more rapidly than they did years ago, so you may also need to flee the scene and call 911.

You never know if your home is going to catch on fire, which is why fire insurance is so important. You should make sure that your homeowner's insurance covers accidental fire damage so you know you’re protected if you ever experience a house fire.

What are the different types of fires?

Fire extinguishers have different classes that are made to handle different ‌fires, from cooking fires in your kitchen to candle fires.

You should either have several types of fire extinguishers or purchase a multipurpose fire extinguisher to handle electrical and grease fires.

 

Different Kinds of Fire Extinguishers

 

Type of Fire   Extinguisher	What it’s Used For
Class A	Ordinary combustibles like wood, cloth, plastic or paper.
Class B	Combustible liquids, gasses, grease, oil, gasoline, alcohol or propane.
Class C	Electrical fires from appliances, tools or wires.
Class D	Flammable metals such as titanium, sodium, magnesium or potassium.
Class K	Vegetable-based oils and animal fats used in cooking.
Multipurpose BC	Flammable liquids or gasses, or electrical fires. They are designed to extinguish B and C fires..
Multipurpose ABC	Fires that involve ordinary combustibles, flammable liquids, gasses or electrical equipment. They are designed to extinguish A, B, and C fires.

 

Fire extinguisher and fire alarm safety tips

There are two main types of fire alarms: ionization alarms and photoelectric alarms. Each of these alarms detects smoke differently.

An ionization alarm is more reactive to flaming fires, such as a pan or grease fire.

Photoelectric smoke alarms sense smoldering fires, like those that can occur if you drop a cigarette on a mattress.

When looking for a fire alarm, ‌find one that uses both ‌sensors to serve you and your home better.

Where should you put a fire alarm?

• Make sure every level of your home has a smoke alarm, including your basement.
• Every bedroom, or place where someone sleeps, should also have a fire alarm.
• Outside every room, such as a hallway.
• If you have stairs that lead to a floor without a bedroom, install a fire detector near the stairs.
• Place a smoke detector at least 10 feet from any cooking appliances to reduce false alarms. And make sure that you mount your alarms on the wall since smoke rises–about 12” away from the ceiling.

[Source 10] 

How do you use a fire extinguisher?

FEMA has a handy P.A.S.S. acronym to help you remember how to use a fire alarm: pull, aim, squeeze, sweep.

Pull the ring/safety pin out while pointing the nozzle away from you and towards the fire before releasing the pin.

Aim towards the base of the fire.

Squeeze the handle slowly and evenly.

Sweep the nozzle left to right, slowly moving towards it as the fire dies.

Once you’ve tackled the fire, ‌stand back in case the fire re-ignites. Once it’s out, ‌leave the area and allow it to ventilate any lingering smoke.

5 tips from an Interior Firefighter and EMT

Chip shared a few more important fire safety tips with us:

1. “It's more important to make sure you do [a fire frill] during a time when it's not convenient.” Consider doing a drill at 10:00 pm in the middle of the week or when it’s raining outside on a Sunday morning. Because you never know when a fire might break out, it’s important to practice different conditions and be prepared for any situation.

2. “In a fire situation or any kind of crisis, it's chaotic. So you have to rely on muscle memory of what you're going to do.” Practice fire drills with your family often, until your escape route is second-nature.

3. “If you have unique situations, it's always good to work with the fire department.” Let them know if your driveway might be too small to fit a fire truck, or if your basement is full of boxes that might fuel the fire.

4. “I put in monitored fire and carbon monoxide detectors right next to [pre-installed fire detectors]. I know that if I'm not home and my house catches fire, if I didn't have a monitor[ed] fire system, nobody would know [about the fire].”

5. “I can't emphasize enough: Get out of the house. And when you're getting out of the house, stay low.”

ADT’s fire alarms can help you protect your home.

Early fire detection is one of the most important steps you can take in the event of a fire. Fire monitoring is much more than just a smoke detector.

Our smart fire alarms can also unlock your Smart Locks, so the firefighters can easily access your home or even turn off the A/C to slow smoke circulation. 

The ADT monitoring centers can alert both you and the fire department at the first warning signs of a fire.

Resources:

[1]  https://www.ready.gov/home-fires

[2] https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Building-and-Life-Safety/Home-Structure-Fires

[3] https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/US-Fire-Problem/Fire-loss-in-the-United-States

[4] https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Detection-and-Signaling/Smoke-Alarms-in-US-Home-Fires

[5] https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa-236.pdf

[6] https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/US-Fire-Problem/Heating-equipment

[7] https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/US-Fire-Problem/Smoking-Materials

[8] https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Electrical/Electrical

[9] https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/US-Fire-Problem/Intentional-fires

[10] https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Staying-safe/Safety-equipment/Smoke-alarms/Installing-and-maintaining-smoke-alarms