Emmitsburg, MD – Approximately 164,500 residential building cooking fires occurred each year from 2008 to 2010, resulting in 110 deaths and 3,525 injuries annually, according to a report (.pdf file) from the U.S. Fire Administration.

The peak time for fires was between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., when people typically prepare dinner. The vast majority of cooking fires (94 percent) were contained within a cooking vessel such as a pot or pan.

In more than half of larger cooking fires, the material that ignited was oil, fat or grease. Reasons for those fires included operational deficiency, misuse of material or product, and electrical failure or malfunction, the report states.