Cooking equipment 32%
Heating equipment 16%
Intentional 5%
Candles 4%
Smoking materials 4%
Other fire (fire jumping from another house or area fire) 4%
Loss of control of trash fire 4%
Electrical 3%
Clothes dryer/washer 2%
Playing with matches 2%
Thanks, that was going to keep me searching for a few days. It affirms my bias against spending large quantities of time preparing meals!
Many years ago the Naval Research Lab took a decommissioned diesel submarine, installed it on their property, wired it with sensors, and lit it off. The results were horrifying because many assumptions had been made about submarine firefighting that had no basis in reality and were likely to get people killed. NRL is still finding creative ways to obtain combustion data from all sorts of flammable objects, especially any new equipment being brought aboard the fleet. Their fire research has made everyone big believers in prevention, not cure. Based on my submarine fire experience, the most dangerous weapon in the U.S. Navy is... lint in the laundry dryer. Next-most-dangerous is shipyard employees with metal grinders.
When we were running the fire trainer at a submarine training command, we could teach the crews everything they ever wanted to know about attacking & extinguishing fires. They'd get to feeling pretty cocky until the instructors shut off the main water supply valves and left everyone standing around with limp hoses (so to speak). It took an average of two minutes (or longer) for the crew's leadership (let alone the followership) to realize that additional troubleshooting would best be conducted elsewhere. By then the compartment, about the size of your average modern kitchen, would be over 130 degrees and warming rapidly.
One of our fire-trainer instructors lived in one end of a quad base house, whose tenant at the other end lit their kitchen ablaze. As everyone evacuated he attacked the fire with a garden hose and kept it under control for the 15 minutes it took to get the fire company in business. It cost him both eyebrows and the hair on his arms because everyone else was driven off by the heat. He was too pissed off about the whole situation to notice the effects.
So those of you feeling comfy with nearby extinguishers, hydrants, & fire departments-- don't confuse overconfidence & blissful ignorance with being ready to put the fire out or with expecting help to arrive quickly. Nothing trumps prevention & avoidance, and I wouldn't get too comfortable about cooking with oil, grease, or deep-fat fryers... especially if you're using a gas flame.
I'm really looking forward to the consumer's version of the home-wiring IR inspection tool.