A third of all house fires start where one has already been
started on purpose — at the kitchen stove. According to the U.S.
Fire Administration (USFA) there are more than 150,000, causing
hundreds of fatalities, thousands of injuries, and almost a
billion dollars in property loss a year. Some fire officials say
the number of kitchen fires is actually about 10 times higher,
and that many go unreported.  The main cause is unattended
cooking. The main combustibles are oil, fat and grease. The cook
may be out of the room only a minute or two, but that's often
enough for spitting grease to ignite, spread flames to a pan and
create a small inferno that quickly envelopes the stovetop and
nearby cabinets.  Most safety experts recommend that when a fire
breaks out at home you should leave the house and call the fire
department. But faced with the possibility of the house going up
in smoke before the fire department arrives, people often fight
a fire instead of leaving. Particularly with a small, stovetop
fire, that o