At a Glance
Each year, from 2017 to 2019, fire departments in the United States responded to an estimated average of
187,500
cooking fires in residential buildings.
These fires caused an estimated:
![165 deaths](/img/icons/v21i5-deaths.png)
165 deaths
![3,325 injuries](/img/icons/v21i5-injuries.png)
3,325 injuries
![$444 million](/img/icons/v21i5-dollar-loss.png)
$444 million in property loss
![icons showing electric, heating and cooking causes](/img/icons/v21i5-causes.png)
Cooking was, by far, the leading cause of all residential building fires and injuries.
![frying pan with 93% overlaid](/img/icons/v21i5-pan.png)
Confined fires, those fires involving the contents of a cooking vessel without fire extension beyond the vessel, accounted for 93% of residential building cooking fires.
![pan on a stove that is on fire with 83% overlaid](/img/icons/v21i5-stove-fire.png)
In 83% of nonconfined cooking fires in residential buildings, the fires were limited to the object or room of fire origin.
![woman walking away from a pan on a stove with 37% overlaid](/img/icons/v21i5-stove-unattended.png)
The leading specific factor contributing to ignition in nonconfined cooking fires in residential buildings was unattended equipment (37%).
![a smoke alarm with 67% overlaid and a fire sprinkler head with 9% overlaid](/img/icons/v21i5-alarm-sprinkler.png)
Smoke alarms and automatic extinguishing systems were present in 67% and 9%, respectively, of nonconfined cooking fires in occupied residential buildings.