Every year, the Seattle Fire Department responds to hundreds of cooking-related fires. With more people cooking at home because of the pandemic, the concern for cooking fires is elevated. Cooking fires remain the main cause of home fires in the U.S.
To help try to reduce cooking-related fires, the Seattle Fire Department, in collaboration with the King County Fire and Life Safety Association, recently developed cooking fire safety videos in 12 languages and in American Sign Language.
The videos focus on how to prevent cooking fires and how to respond to a stovetop fire.
The videos are in the following languages and can be viewed below.
- English
- American Sign Language
- Amharic
- Arabic
- Chinese Simplified (Mandarin audio)
- Chinese Traditional (Cantonese audio)
- Khmer
- Korean
- Oromo
- Russian
- Somali
- Spanish
- Tigrinya
- Ukrainian
- Vietnamese
Video script:
Most home fires start in the kitchen when a person starts cooking and forgets about the food on the stove. It is easy to get distracted by a person, a phone call or an electronic device. A fire can start in seconds.
How to be safe:
- Stay in the kitchen when cooking with oil or grease
- Always use a timer when cooking to remind you that the stove is on
- Keep the stove area clean
- Keep a lid near the stove in case of fire
- Never pour water on a grease or oil fire
- The best way to put out a small pan fire is to slide a lid over the pot or pan.
- Turn the burner off
- Do not try to move a burning pan.
- Remove the lid only after the fire is out and cooled off.
For questions or more information, contact the Seattle Fire Department.