Distracted cooking sparks holiday fire insurance claims

’Tis the season of family gatherings, good cheer, festive music, spiked eggnog and, apparently, the distracted cooking — spurred by multitasking — that leads to house fires, NerdWallet reported this month.

Cooking is the leading cause of home fires, with the holidays serving as peak season for such blazes, Scott Humphrey, second vice president of risk control for Travelers Cos. Inc., told the news website.

According to Travelers claim data from 2012 to 2016, home fire claims increased 12% on average during the week between Christmas to New Year’s Eve compared with the typical week, Mr. Humphrey said.

“Especially during the holidays, when preparing for a party, we’re multitasking, and we sometimes forget about safety,” Kim Holland, a State Farm agent in Hayward, California, told NerdWallet.