As with many U.S. holidays, fire incidence increases on Thanksgiving Day. This increase is troubling as it applies mostly to cooking fires in the family home.

Each year, nearly 4,300 fires in the United States occur on Thanksgiving day causing 15 fatalities, about 50 injuries, and nearly $27 million in property damage. Of these fires, 1,450 are in residential structures that claim 15 lives, injure 41, and cause an estimated $21 million in damage.

On Thanksgiving Day, the incidence of vehicle and other fires decline; however, the number of residential structure fires increases from 23 percent to 36 percent of the daily average.

Thanksgiving Day residential structure fires tend to cause more property damage and claim more lives, but do not injure as many people as residential fires occurring on the average day

Causes

Cooking is the leading cause of residential structure fires on Thanksgiving Day and is responsible for more fires than the following four leading causes combined. For the average day (both in general and for November specifically), the leading cause of structure fires is cooking, but other causes play more dominant roles. For example, incendiary/suspicious fires are much more common on the average day than on Thanksgiving.

Food left unattended is the leading factor in the ignition of residential cooking fires on Thanksgiving Day. As with cooking fires in general, the preponderance (83 percent) of Thanksgiving Day residential structure fires are the result of incidents involving stoves and ovens.

Thanksgiving Day has more than double the number of residential cooking fires than an average day (Figure 4). The day after Thanksgiv-ing traditionally has a substantial decrease in such fires, perhaps because people eat leftovers rather than cook.

Not surprisingly, cooking is the leading cause of residential structure fire injuries on Thanksgiving, followed by open flame, electrical distribution, and appliances. In contrast, the leading causes of residential fire fatalities on Thanksgiving are smoking and cooking (46 percent each), followed by arson (9 percent).

For working around hot ovens, stoves and handling hot items consider using a good pair of welding gloves. Pot holders might look a bit better but welding gloves are ideal for handling hot pots and pans.

For reaching into that oven for the bird or ham a pair of protective sleeves in addition to the gloves is a great idea.