Listed below are 10 restaurant fire statistics provided by the National Fire Protection Association. We hope knowing these statistics will help restaurant owners and managers protect their operations against fire hazards. To guard against fires, Portland restaurants should adhere to the following two NFPA standards, which address the most common areas where fires occur in restaurants:
Here are 10 important statistics you should know about restaurant fires:
1. 10:00am is the peak time for restaurant fires.
2. There were an estimated 7,410 fires reported to public fire departments at eating and drinking establishments nationwide each year in restaurants between 2010 and 2014, per NFPA statistics.
3. These fires resulted in direct property damage of $165 million annually.
4. Approximately 61% of all restaurant fires between 2010 and 2014 were caused by cooking – and cooking materials were the most frequent items initially ignited. This accounts for three out of five fires and 38% of direct property damage.
5. Approximately 21% of these fires involved deep fryers, 14% involved cooking ranges, 6% involved cooking grills and 5% involved ovens or rotisserie ovens.
6. Approximately 22% of these fires were a result of failure to clean, 14% electrical failure or malfunction, 12% mechanical failure or malfunction and 8% unattended equipment.
7. Not surprisingly, given the prevalence of cooking fires, most fires (59%) in eating and drinking establishments began in the kitchen or cooking area.
8. Just over four in ten fires (43%) in eating establishments began with cooking materials, including food as the item first ignited.
9. Between 2007 and 2011, 23% of reported eating or drinking establishment structure fires indicated some type of sprinkler was present. In properties with more than one type of automatic extinguishing equipment present, only the type closest to the fire is reported, which mean sprinklers may have been present in some of the 40% of eating and drinking establishment structure fires where some type of non-water-based automatic extinguishing equipment was reported present.
10. In eating or drinking establishments, direct property damage per reported fire was 75% lower when wet pipe sprinklers were present, compared to fires with no automatic extinguishing equipment present.
Statistics show that restaurant fires most often occur in the kitchen and ignite from cooking equipment. With this knowledge, it makes sense that you would want to keep all aspects of your kitchen equipment and exhaust system clean and in working condition, including your fire suppression systems. Make the safe choice for your food business and don’t put your property or your employees at risk – keep your kitchen clean! Bare Metal Standard of Portland offers FREE kitchen exhaust system inspections and can provide you a quote for services to get your system clean and up to code.