Pasco Fire Rescue Called To Extinguish Cooking Fire

WESLEY CHAPEL, FL -- It's a lesson for anyone who's ever wondered if they left the iron plugged in or forgot to turn a burner off on the stove.

It never hurts to check.

In this case, the homeowners in the 26500 block of Whirlway Terrace in Lexington Oaks failed to heed that niggling suspicion, resulting in a kitchen fire Friday morning, June 1.

Pasco County Fire Rescue received a call at 10:15 a.m. of smoke coming from a home in the subdivision. When they arrived, there was no one at home. However, the kitchen was on fire. It took about 10 minutes to get the fire under control.

Here's some facts about cooking fires from the National Fire Protection Association:

* Cooking equipment was the leading cause of home structure fires and civilian fire injuries and the second leading cause of home fire deaths.
* Cooking equipment was involved in almost half (47 percent) of all reported home fires, one of every five (20 percent) home fire deaths, almost half (45 percent) of reported home fire injuries, and 17 perecent of the direct property damage resulting from home fires.
* Unattended cooking was by far the leading contributing factor in these fires and in fire casualties.

Images via Pasco Fire Rescue