Introduction:
Cooking is the biggest single cause of home fires in Finland. Unsupervised cooking, atypical use of the stove and a lack of stove safety features pose a risk that could be prevented. Stove fires occur in all population groups, but they pose a significant risk, especially for older people and for those with limited capability to function. Stove fire incidents may not always be reported to the rescue services if the smoke damages can be handled by the resident. Therefore, the official statistics do not reflect the actual annual number of stove fires.

Objectives:
Stove fire ignition, effects, and prevention was studied in a joint research project (2020-2022) by Aalto University, The Finnish National Rescue Association, the Emergency Services Academy Finland, and the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency. Later, the study was supplemented with data from the insurance company (2023). In this presentation, the main findings and conclusion of both research projects are presented. The aim is to increase awareness of the stove safety and accident prevention.

Methods:
To form the overall picture, information on ignition rates, fire ignition mechanisms, flammable materials and prevalence of different stove types and stove safety devices was obtained. The analysed data include information from the fire and rescue service’s official register of incidents (2016-2020), fire investigation reports (1998-2020) and data collected from a media survey (2020-2021) and a citizen survey (2021). These were compared with the insurance company's data (2017–2020).

Results:
The results indicate that the main causes of stove fire ignition are additional materials stored on or near the stove and unsupervised cooking. Observations were consistent between all data sources. Food is the first material to ignite in most of the cases (67 %), but in a quarter of them the first material to ignite is a mixed household item. Most incidents caused by food ignition remain smaller fire hazards, but fires igniting from grease usually spread into the largest fires. The use of stove safety features is rare.

Conclusion
Number of stove fire incidents reported in media is low considering their annual occurrence. Therefore, citizens have fewer opportunity to learn from the accidents and identify their prevalence and associated risks. According to previous studies, the number of stove fires can be reduced with stove safety technology and informing residents about the potential hazards.

Keywords: Stove fires, stove safety, fire safety, accident prevention, home safety

The Finnish National Rescue Association SPEK - Helsinki - Uusimaa - FinlandTarja Ojala (SPEK), Jukka Lepistö (Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency)