The Most Common but Overlooked Causes of Home Fires
When it comes to fire safety, most people tend to fall into one of two categories: those who are constantly concerned about fire hazards in their own home and any other buildings they enter (at which point they immediately mentally formulate the best way to go). emergency evacuation), and those who have a basic understanding of how fires start and spread, but don’t tend to spend too much time thinking about it.
No matter where you are on the fire alarm spectrum, here’s a quick look at some of the most common causes of home fires, including some that aren’t necessarily on your radar.
The Most Common But Ignored Causes of Home Fires
In October 2021, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) released a report on residential fires in the United States between 2015 and 2019. Among other data, it included the five most common causes of home fires by category. In descending order, these are:
- Cooking (worth behind 49% of house fires)
- Heating equipment (14%)
- Electrical distribution and lighting equipment (9%)
- Deliberate (7%)
- Smoking materials (5%)
While these categories are hardly surprising, there are more specific ways in which fires start in each that tend to be overlooked or ignored. Here are some examples:
Leave while the food is still cooking
One of the reasons kitchen fires happen with such regularity is that many people don’t realize that it takes very little to start them. When the NFPA looked at what fueled kitchen fires between 2014 and 2018, the researchers found that the vast majority were caused by unattended cooking, combustible materials too close to kitchen equipment, or equipment that was unintentionally started. , but not disabled.
“It only takes a second for this food to catch fire, and you have a window of about 30 to 45 seconds before this fire gets out of your control,” Michael Kozo, fire captain of the New Fire Department, recently said . York. Consumer Reports . “So you have to keep an eye on it in the kitchen all the time.”
Extension cords and splitters
As we explained in a previous article , breaking down the differences between power strips, surge protectors, and power strips, they don’t all have the same features or capabilities. The good news, according to an NFPA report , is that cords or plugs were only involved in 1% of home fires between 2015 and 2019. The bad news is that they accounted for 7% of deaths.
Main culprit? Excessive or incorrect use of extension cords. In many cases, an appliance that heats or cools (such as a refrigerator, heater, air conditioner, toaster, etc.) is connected to an extension cord or surge protector, rather than directly to a wall outlet.
As Kozo explained to Consumer Reports , running these appliances with an extension cord increases the risk of overloading the electrical capacitance of the cord and overheating it, which could potentially lead to a fire. He recommends using extension cords only for temporary use of low-voltage devices, such as charging a phone or connecting a TV.
Li-ion batteries
Although specific data on lithium-ion batteries were not included in the NFPA report, Kozo says they have been causing more fires over the past few years. This is because if the lithium-ion battery that powers the electric bike and electric scooter is defective, it can overheat, causing a chemical reaction and possibly a fire.
To prevent this from happening, Kozo recommends using only the charger that came with your bike or scooter (or a replacement from the company) and not the universal charger you found online.
Also, only charge it for the recommended amount of time – it’s not a case where it’s better to leave it charging for longer. And while it’s tempting to leave it charging overnight, Kozo notes that it’s not a good idea because it can cause the battery to overheat. Finally, if possible, charge electric scooters and bikes outdoors.