Did you know that cooking equipment was involved in 31 percent of home structure fires reported in 2003? 

How about the fact that more than half of the home cooking injuries occur when people try to fight the fire themselves? 

What about this one? Fires resulting from cooking continue to be the most common type of fire experienced by U.S. households.

The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has recently completed a study examining the behaviors behind the causes of cooking fires and their injuries as well as strategies to prevent these incidents in the future.

Along with the research and statistics that the USFA has completed, they have developed fire safety videos and a presentation that can be used to teach eight steps that can be taken to prevent cooking fires.

These steps are:

1. Watch what you heat
2. Stay alert
3. Keep things that can catch fire away from heat
4. Know what to do if you have a cooking fire
5. Keep kids away from cooking area
6. Prevent scalds and burns
7. Install and use cooking appliances safely
8. Have working smoke alarms

The 84 page report which came out in August of 2007 is available directly from the USFA web site. 

How are you preventing cooking fires?