Cooking Fire Risk Report: Holiday Edition

Thanksgiving is the Worst Day of the Year for Cooking Fires

Thanksgiving Day consistently ranks as the most dangerous day for cooking fires in America. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the holiday sees 240 percent more home cooking fires than an average day. The combination of multitasking, crowded kitchens, and hot oil makes the perfect recipe for disaster.

With Thanksgiving marking the start of the busiest cooking season of the year, SafeHome.org’s new analysis combines federal fire data with a nationwide consumer survey to identify where cooking fires occur most frequently—and what risky habits are contributing to them.

Cooking Fire Hot Spots

Nationwide, cooking accounts for nearly four in ten residential fires, resulting in more than 400 deaths annually. However, some states have higher rates of cooking fires. Fire data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reveal a clear geographic pattern: Northeastern states dominate the list of areas with the highest number of reported residential cooking fires per capita, despite having strong building codes and established fire departments.

Worst States for Cooking Fires

Source: FEMA National Fire Incident Reporting System, 2020-2024

At the state level, New York leads the nation with 77 percent of residential fires caused by cooking, meaning more than three-quarters of all reported residential fires in the state start in the kitchen. Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island, and New Jersey round out the top five, all maintaining rates significantly above the national average.

While many kitchen fires happen because cooks are distracted, compact kitchens, older homes, and high concentrations of shared apartment buildings may be key factors contributing to the region’s elevated fire risk. Older homes are more likely to have outdated wiring or ventilation systems, both of which can cause small kitchen fires to spread quickly.

Worst Metro Areas for Cooking Fires

Looking at metro-level FEMA data, the regional pattern becomes even clearer. Northeastern metros like New York City, Boston, and Albany lead the nation in cooking fires per capita—mirroring the states’ top ranking overall.

20 Metros With Highest Percentage of Cooking Fires

Source: FEMA National Fire Incident Reporting System, 2020-2024, includes metropolitans with populations of 150,000 or more 

A variety of cities ranked in the top 20 worst for cooking-related fire risk. New York-Newark leads with 78 percent of all residential fires starting in the kitchen, followed closely by Boston-Cambridge at 74 percent. Notably, several smaller metros like Trenton-Princeton, NJ and Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY show high percentages despite having relatively low per-capita fire rates, suggesting that in these areas, cooking vastly outweighs other fire causes. The Northeast continues its dominance, occupying eight of the top ten spots, with only Ann Arbor, MI and Fayetteville, NC breaking the regional pattern.

The data reveals an important distinction between fire frequency and fire composition. While Boston has a higher rate of cooking fires per capita (137 per 100,000) than New York (87 per 100,000), New York's percentage is higher because it experiences fewer non-cooking fires overall. This suggests that factors beyond kitchen safety—such as smoking rates, heating equipment usage, or electrical systems—vary significantly between metros and influence the relative role cooking plays in each area's fires.

Cooking Fire Rates Among the 10 Largest Metros

Source: FEMA National Fire Incident Reporting System, 2020-2024

Across the nation’s 10 largest metro areas, cooking is to be a dominant driver of home fire risk—though nowhere near the extreme levels seen in New York and Boston. Philadelphia and Chicago stand out, with cooking responsible for roughly half of all residential fires, and both metros experience comparatively high per-capita incident rates. Washington, D.C., Miami, and Los Angeles show more moderate shares of cooking-related fires and major Sun Belt metros such as Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta reported the lowest cooking-fire shares in the top ten.

Distraction, Multitasking, and Missing Alarms: The Bad Habits Behind the Flames

SafeHome.org’s November 2025 survey of 1,986 U.S. adults uncovered what firefighters already know: even seasoned home cooks get distracted. Nearly every respondent admitted to at least one unsafe cooking habit, and many engage in several simultaneously.

Most Americans cook while distracted, and more than two-thirds don’t always use a kitchen timer. What’s more, 34 percent have left a cooking appliance on while away from home,  This is a dangerous habit: unattended cooking was the leading factor contributing to cooking fires and casualties according to NFPA.

Generational trends may also be at play. Younger adults—especially those working remotely—are more likely to cook during the day and multitask while food is on the stove. The CDC found that multitasking increases the likelihood of a household hazard by 2.5 times, while the NFPA reports that one in four home cooking fire deaths occur while the victim is asleep.

Kitchen Fire Safety Equipment Ownership

Source: 2025 survey of 1,986 U.S. adults 

Of course, even the most careful cook could end up with a fire. That’s why it’s essential to have a functioning smoke detector and up-to-date fire extinguisher on hand in every kitchen. It’s also important to test smoke detectors monthly to ensure they are functioning properly. Unfortunately, six percent of people report having no safety equipment at all in or near the kitchen. Having safety tools like smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, or fire blankets can stop a small kitchen fire from turning into a deadly blaze.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, communities that invest in public fire education and free smoke detector programs tend to see lower fire injury rates, even when total incident counts remain steady.

Behavioral data shows the problem isn’t a lack of awareness—it’s overconfidence. People know how fires start, but they underestimate how quickly heat, grease, and timing errors escalate. The data below from FEMA’s fire cause breakdown further emphasizes where the risks originate.

Cooking Equipment Causing Most Fires

Source: FEMA National Fire Incident Reporting System, 2020-2024

Unattended stovetop cooking accounts for nearly half of all kitchen fires. Frying, grilling, and baking each introduce their own risks, but the unifying factor is distraction—and it’s proving stubbornly difficult to eliminate.

Simple Steps to Prevent Cooking Fires This Thanksgiving

Preventing cooking fires doesn’t require specialized equipment—just consistency and awareness. Following these five simple precautions can dramatically reduce your fire risk.

Cooking Fire Prevention Tips

1. Stay in the kitchen. Most fires start when food is left unattended. Avoid distractions like scrolling on your phone, watching TV, or multitasking while cooking.
2. Use timers or smart alarms to track cooking times and prevent overcooking and burning.
3. Keep combustibles away from the stove—move towels, oven mitts, and packaging three feet from the stove. These items can catch fire quickly.
4. Install and test smoke detectors monthly. These devices can only help if they are functioning properly. Many fire departments offer them free of charge.
5. Keep an up-to-date fire extinguisher in the kitchen in case a fire starts. Quick responses can save lives.

And one more: Never use turkey fryers indoors. According to the NFPA, they cause hundreds of fires and severe burn injuries every year, often because the oil overheats or spills on open flames.

Thanksgiving is meant for gratitude, not grief. Taking a few extra precautions—especially in the kitchen—can make for happy (and safe) holidays.

Methodology

In November 2025, Safehome.org polled 1,986 American adults about their fire safety habits with regard to cooking meals and heating their homes. The poll was conducted online.  Participants’ responses were weighted to be representative of the age, sex, and ethnicity of the U.S. population according to the Census, as well as balancing by Census region.

We also analyzed National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) data from 2020 through 2024 and mapped each residential property fire to its corresponding metropolitan area using the U.S. Census Bureau’s Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs). Following NFIRS documentation, we classified incidents into residential property, structure, and building fires, and identified cooking-related fires using the standardized fire cause and equipment codes.

To contextualize fire activity across metro areas, we calculated average annual rates of residential cooking fires and normalized these figures using 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year population estimates. In addition to incident rates, we examined contributing factors by analyzing the equipment associated with each fire and identifying the 15 most frequently involved equipment categories within each CBSA.

Because participation in NFIRS is voluntary, reporting completeness varies by state, department, and geography. As a result, NFIRS does not represent a full census of U.S. residential fires. To mitigate the impact of uneven reporting when comparing metro areas, we emphasized ratio-based metrics, such as the percentage of residential fires caused by cooking. These proportional comparisons are more resilient to participation variability than absolute incident counts or per-capita rates, as they rely on the relative distribution of causes within each metro’s reported fire sample rather than the total volume of reports.

Data Appendix

Source: FEMA National Fire Incident Reporting System, 2020-2024