Kitchen safety

Cooking can be deadly.

That’s the message firefighters delivered Tuesday to Grade 11 and 12 students at St. Patrick High School, kicking off fire-prevention week with some startling statistics on just how dangerous an unattended stovetop can be.

According to Fire Chief John Hay, kitchen fires are the No. 1 cause of residential fires and the second leading cause for residential fatalities.

Seventy-one per cent of all fires occur in the home, with one-fifth of those related to cooking. Thirty-seven per cent of all injuries from fires are caused by cooking fires, three-quarters occurring when someone attempts to put out the flames.

Hay said kitchen fires are largely preventable, which is why he wanted the message delivered to the city’s youth, hoping they’ll take it home with them and reinforce it with their parents.

It only takes a few seconds for things to get out of hand, he added.

“I think people get complacent. They’ll cook french fries 100 times and nothing goes wrong,” Hay said. “They’ll get distracted by a phone call or a TV show or a noisy kid for just a moment and that’s all it takes.”

There’s no better way to deliver the dangers of kitchen fires than by instilling it in school-aged children, who are not only impressionable, but not jaded by cooking habits developed over the course of a lifetime.

“One of the best places we’ve found to get our message out is through the kids. High school kids, they bring that message home to their parents. Their parents are maybe a little old-school when it comes to cooking at home,” Hay said.

“But it’s hard to tell your kid, ‘No, you’re wrong’ when they’ve heard it from the fire chief and the fire marshal, that they’ve got to take better care in the kitchen.”

Diego Villaneuva, a 16-year-old Grade 12 students, said he wasn’t surprised at how lethal kitchens can be.

“I’m aware that it’s a big cause (of fires) and it’s very dangerous to be in the kitchen. At the same time, it’s a really good thing,” Villaneuva said. “I was surprised at a few of the statistics they gave us, but it wasn’t too big of a surprise.”

It’s a message he plans to take home to his family.

“For sure, it’s a really important message to get out there, to prevent small things like little fires. It’s a good way to go home, tell people and spread the word.”