With the joy of the holidays comes the joy of delicious food- and someone has to cook it. If that someone is you, you might want to take a look at the Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers (AHAM)safety page. There, you can order brochures, read safety tips and learn facts like these:
- The range-top was involved in nearly 8 of every 10 cooking fires.
- In nearly 3/4 of the fires reported (73%), the person responsible for the fire was not in the area when the fire started.
- The other major causes of cooking fires reported were grease, food left on the range, and combustible materials on the range-top.
- In nearly 2/3 of the fires (64%), people in the residence did not attempt to fight the fire but left the area.
- Unfortunately, one-half of the people who did try to fight the fire, did it incorrectly, further endangering themselves and their families.
- A larger percentage of the cooking fires were caused by people in the age range of 19 – 69 than is represented by their percentage of the overall population.
- One-half of the cooking fires reported were caused by people between the age of 30 – 49.
The age range of 19-69 and 30-49 being overrepresented makes sense to me since that is the age of most family members who are the cooks in the family. So, if you are the family chef, cook carefully and have a delicious holiday.