• Never leave your range or cooktop unattended while cooking. Turn off your range or cooktop if you need to leave the room.
• Wear short, close-fitting or tightly rolled sleeves. Loose clothing can hang on hot surfaces, and when it comes into contact with a gas flame or electric burner, it can catch fire.
• Keep your cooking area clean and free of combustible materials. It may catch fire with food wrappers, oven mitts or other materials left on or near the stove.
• Be sure to clean up any spilled or splattered grease. In the oven or on the cooktop, built-up grease can catch fire.
• Keep a fire extinguisher readily available. It is important to have a nearby extinguisher, but you also need to have the right extinguisher type and know how to use it properly.
• Never throw hot grease in the garbage as it can ignite combustible materials. Be sure to allow the grease to cool down and dispose of it in an old can like a metal coffee can.
• Do not store food or other items in your oven. It can be easily forgotten that there is an item in your oven that can catch fire while it is preheated.

What to Do If a Cooking Fire Flares Up

You can help reduce the risk of a kitchen fire by exercising caution at all times in your kitchen. But if a fire breaks out, you have to be ready.

• Your safety should always come first. If you are unsure about whether it is safe to fight the fire, leave the scene, call 911 for help, and let the fire department control the fire.
• If a small fire flares up and you are going to attempt to extinguish it, call 911 for help first.A fire may grow out of control more quickly than you anticipate. It is safer to have help already on the way.
• Smother a grease fire – never throw water on a grease fire. The super-heated water can change to steam, and can cause severe burns. Oil also can splash and spread the fire. If a grease fire starts in a pan, smother the flames by sliding the lid – while wearing an oven mitt – over the pan. If safe to do so, turn off the heat source. Do not move the pan, and keep the lid on until the fire is out and the pan is completely cool.
• If a fire starts in your oven, keep the door closed and turn off the heat source. Keeping the door closed will help smother the flames. Do not open the door until the flames are completely out.
• If a fire starts in your microwave, turn off the microwave and do not open it until the fire is completely out. Unplug the microwave only if you can safely do so.¹