Pioneering Technology Corp (makers of SmartBurner®) support
the National Fire Protection Association's 2023 Fire Prevention Week Campaign:
“Cooking Safety Starts with YOU - Pay Attention to Fire Prevention!”
The Cost of Cooking Fires
According to NFPA, cooking is the leading cause of reported home fires (49% - 172,900 fires/yr.) and home fire injuries (44% - 4,820) resulting in over $1.2B in direct costs and over $7B in indirect costs annually. Unattended cooking is by far the leading cause of related deaths. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has reported that another 4.7M cooking fires go unreported to the fire service each year. Cooking accounts for 73% of all fires in apartments and multi-family homes. Cooking fires have increased as a percentage of overall household fires from 20% in 1980 to 49% today. While the fire prevention community has actively reduced the number of fires (smoking, novelty lighters, candles, heaters etc), today cooking fires represent the most significant cause of home fires yet to be tackled.
Have you reviewed your local incident data and identified a cooking fire problem in your community?
Have you identified specific properties or vulnerable populations that are experiencing stovetop cooking fires?
What solution(s) do you currently use or promote to address cooking fires? Please share ALL relevant solutions or activities you use.
What is the BEST way to reduce your community’s number of cooking fires, fire runs and related costs?
B. Prevention – TLC or HEHLT
While ALL of the above are important ways to help protect people and properties from the results of cooking fires, human behaviour is difficult to change and with mitigation or suppression you already have a fire, meaning you still have dangerous situations and significant costs.
The BEST strategy for protecting people and properties is to eliminate the fire from happening in the first place. SmartBurner® with its proven temperature limiting control (TLC) technology® is the ONLY solution with a proven track record in eliminating cooking fires. SmartBurner® has been installed on over 1.5 million times on stovetops, in over 450K residences over the past 15 years without a single reported cooking fire.
ZERO cooking fires = a significant return on investment, while protecting your people and properties.