Unattended cooking is the number one cause of residential fires in both Ontario and in London, according to fire officials. With 18 cooking-related blazes reported over a recent seven-day period, reporter Adshayah Sathiaseelan looked into what’s behind the persistent problem and how it can be prevented.
How common are cooking fires in London?
From Jan. 1 to July 17, 2025, the London Fire Department responded to 403 fires related to cooking, Deputy Fire Chief Matt Hepditch said. That’s out of 7,158 total emergency responses so far this year which includes everything from fires to medical calls, car crashes, water rescues and hazardous materials incidents.
“Cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires in the province of Ontario,” Hepditch said. “They’re also the number one cause of home fires in our city of London.”
He said the number of kitchen fires so far this year is “in line” with previous years.
“They can be sporadic,” he said. “Sometimes we have several kitchen fires in a short time frame, other days we’re responding to totally different types of emergencies.”
What sparks most kitchen fires, how do you prevent them?
Unattended cooking is the leading cause – whether it’s walking away from a pot of boiling water or forgetting oil heating on high.
“Generally, it’s basically a pot that’s left unattended,” Hepditch said. “It could be grease. It could be something that’s just being cooked in a pot.”
The fire department, along with the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office, has long pushed public education campaigns, Hepditch said, with slogans like “look while you cook” appearing on billboards and London Transit Commission buses.
Fire officials urge residents to stay in the kitchen while cooking and keep a well-fitting lid nearby. If a fire breaks out in a pot or pan, Hepditch recommends placing the lid over it, turning off the heat and leaving it alone.
“You don’t want to take that lid off as soon as it’s out,” he said. “All that heat in there – all it needs is more oxygen and it will ignite again. Keep the lid on it until it’s cool.”
He also advises using lower heat when possible. “Yes, it may take longer, but it also reduces the risk of a fire you can’t control.”
Hepditch also reminds residents to have a working smoke alarm on every floor of their home.
How bad can the damage get and who’s at risk?
Kitchen fires can cause anything from minor smoke damage to the destruction of a home.
“It can be simply damage to a pot, or it could take a house down,” Hepditch said. “That depends on what’s being cooked, what’s being done on the pot on the stove and then perhaps the time frame that they take to actually call 911.”
And these fires don’t target one group.
“It could be high school students, university students, people on your street, new Canadians, elders – it’s really generally everyone,” Hepditch said.
What happened last week?
The London Fire Department said it responded to 18 cooking-related kitchen fires between July 14 and July 21, including three fires caused by unattended cooking. These are a few cooking-related fires the department posted to social media last week:
- Saturday, July 19: An unattended pot left on a stove sparked a fire at Western University’s London Hall residence. The fire was out when crews arrived, but smoke had spread through the building, so residents were displaced while fire crews ventilated the space.
- Thursday, July 17: A kitchen fire in the 80 block of Buchan Road was extinguished before crews arrived, though heavy smoke filled the home so firefighters used mechanical ventilation to clear it.
- Wednesday, July 16: Firefighters put out a kitchen fire on Marconi Boulevard caused by unattended cooking.
- Tuesday, July 15: Crews responded to smoke at a building on the 200 block of Adelaide Street North and extinguished a kitchen fire on the second floor. The road was briefly closed during the response and the tenant was working with their landlord to arrange accommodations.