People can have all sorts of cooking equipment in their homes. It can be important for homeowners here in Connecticut to keep in mind the fire risks that can come up in connection to such equipment. Estimates from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission point to cooking equipment being behind a large portion of the United States’ home fires.
Take the estimates for 2015, for example. That year, there were an estimated 370,900 residential fires in the United States. Just a little under half of these fires were attributed to cooking equipment. Specifically, 47.4 percent were, with the total for cooking-equipment-related residential fires from that year coming in at 176,100.
Ovens were one of the pieces of cooking equipment commonly involved in such fires. Reportedly, 19,900 U.S. residential fires involved ovens in 2015.
Cooking-equipment-related fires can expose people to significant harm. In 2015, such fires caused 3,650 injuries. This makes up around a third of the residential fire injuries from that year. Sadly, residential fires from cooking equipment sometimes end up causing such severe harm that they take lives. Such fires are estimated to have been behind 280 deaths in the U.S. in 2015.
Many different things could lead to a piece of cooking equipment triggering a fire. One is if the equipment malfunctions due to defects in its manufacturing or design. When a defective piece of cooking equipment causes a house fire, individuals harmed by the fire may be able to pursue compensation through things such as product liability claims.
