The most common place for a fire to start is the kitchen. That’s a fact. According to data from Statistics Brain, cooking causes 56% — more than half — of all home fires. In order to minimize the risk to your home, here are just a few things you need to do.

Take Care of Your Appliances. – One of the easiest ways to prevent a fire from starting in your kitchen is to keep your appliances in good shape. Keep them clean and in good repair. Dump the crumbs out of the toaster. Don’t let sauce and gunk build up in the microwave. Mop up whatever spills over on the stove. Also, if an appliance starts acting up, just unplug it, and take a look at it. Don’t keep running it if it goes on the fritz.

Make Sure Your Smoke Alarm Is Working. – One of the simplest and most important ways commercial fire protection services say you can protect your home is to make sure you have a working smoke alarm. Fire protection companies often find that many of their clients’ smoke alarms aren’t working, which is obviously a huge problem. If there’s no smoke alarm, you won’t know there’s a fire until it’s much too late. Fire protection services suggest checking your smoke alarm every month or so to make sure it’s working properly.

Don’t Leave Food Cooking Unattended. – It’s never a good idea to leave food cooking attended. If you want to avoid a fire in the kitchen, stay in the kitchen, and keep an eye on things, especially greasy things, or things that are in the oven at high temperatures. If you absolutely have to leave the kitchen for a bit, turn things off.

So long as you take care of your appliance, keep a smoke alarm nearby, and don’t leave your cooking unattended, you’ll minimize the risk of setting a fire in your kitchen. If you have any questions, feel free to share in the comments.