▲ A firefighter conducts a cooking oil fire simulation test at the parking lot of the Daejeon Dongbu Fire Station on the 17th. (Photo provided by Daejeon Metropolitan City, Yonhap News)
Fires related to food preparation in Seoul have been found to be concentrated in September and October.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters, out of 27,547 fires that occurred in Seoul over the past five years (2021–2025), 3,982 were caused during food preparation.
Looking at food preparation-related fires by month, October recorded the highest number with 412 cases, followed closely by September with 401 cases.
This showed a significant margin compared to May (350 cases), which had the third-highest number. The headquarters explained that because Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) usually falls in September or October and in-home food preparation increases around the holiday, special caution is required to prevent fires during this period.
To prevent fires caused by food preparation, people should not leave the stove unattended while cooking and should clear flammable materials from around heat sources such as gas burners in advance.
When cooking items that use cooking oil, such as pancakes or deep-fried dishes, care must be taken to prevent the oil from overheating.
If a fire breaks out in cooking oil, pouring water can cause the burning oil to splatter in all directions and potentially make the fire larger, so the headquarters urged the public to use a kitchen fire extinguisher (Class K fire extinguisher) or similar equipment.
(Photo provided by Fire and Disaster Headquarters, Yonhap News)
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