And it’s not just the risk to property and life posed by such fires that is so concerning. A new risk factor has emerged.
Synthetic materials used in modern interiors and furniture burn considerably faster and at an earlier stage than those of a traditional, more natural composition. This reduces the time available to escape the fire.
Not only this, but a great many more toxic gases are released by synthetic materials.
Researchers at UL, the US-based, independent safety science company, conducted a series of experiments which showed that the flashover time of a modern room was nearly 10 times faster than that of legacy rooms: less than four minutes compared to nearly half an hour.
With escape time compromised, the need for technology that prevents a fire from starting in the first place is even more important.
Is this the panacea to the cooking fire problem?
One significant solution towards preventing accidental house fires is fixed-cooker safety devices. Deploying advanced heat sensor technology to prevent cooker fires these innovations not only prevent a fire from starting in the first place – negating the risk of toxic smoke completely – but also avoid the inconvenience and cost of false alarms.
This is particularly relevant in university halls of residence where cooking fumes all too frequently trigger false alarms, summoning the fire service, which attends the site only to find there is no fire. It is therefore no surprise that the UK Fire Service supports and, in some cases, buys such life-saving technology.
Ahead of the introduction of EN50615, Norway had already legislated mandatory use of fixed cooker safety devices in all newly-built kitchens. Given the compelling evidence that such devices significantly reduce the number of accidental house fires, their routine deployment on every cooker installed in brand-new or refurbished kitchens could reduce the cost of kitchen fires, domestic fire insurance and, even more importantly, save lives.
Unattended cooking is a major factor in kitchen fires with distraction often being the cause. For this reason many UK universities have installed fixed cooker safety devices in student halls – in doing so they are not only protecting student safety but buildings too.
Pertti Haavisto is director and partner at Innohome, which manufactures Stoveguard, the first cooker safety device to fulfil European Standard EN50615 for cooker safety products. Stove Guard uses a wireless, intelligent heat sensor that attaches to the cooker hood, wall or ceiling above the cooker to monitor both conductive and radiant heat. The sensor constantly tracks and analyses cooking temperatures and turns off power to the cooker when temperatures exceed a certain threshold. Innohome is market leader for cooker safety products in Nordic countries with cooker safety devices now installed in close to 200,000 locations around Northern Europe, the UK and US
Find out more about the Stoveguard and other Fire-Safety Products for the Kitchen by Innohome.
Enjoy the latest fire and security news, updates and expert opinions sent straight to your inbox with IFSEC Insider's essential weekly newsletters. Subscribe today to make sure you're never left behind by the fast-evolving industry landscape.
Sign up now!
