Cooking Fire Facts and Figures

Cooking is such a routine part of everyday life that it's easy to overlook its potential dangers. According to NFPA research, cooking is the leading cause of reported home fires, home fire injuries, and home fire deaths in the United States. With Thanksgiving this week—the day with by far the most cooking fire incidents of any day on the calendar—we take a close look at NFPA's latest cooking fire statistics to better understand how these fires start, who the victims tend to be, and what public educators should know (1:15). Then, we rerun a segment from 2020 exploring the science behind those viral videos of turkey-fryer fireballs (7:37). Then, in Code Corner, NFPA engineer Brian O'Connor talks about the different letters and numbers on fire extinguishers and what they mean (19:23). LINKS:  Watch turkey frying gone wrong View NFPA cooking fire prevention resources Read the 2023 NFPA research report on US home cooking fires