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Holiday Fire Safety
11/14/2016 (Permalink)
During the holiday season, it's easy to get distracted while in the kitchen. It's important to keep safety your first priority. Allstate Insurance and Liberty Mutual Insurance has compiled a list of safety tips to follow during this holiday season.
- Stay in the kitchen while food is cooking. Most fires in the kitchen occur because food is left unattended.
- Keep the cooking range free of clutter such as oven mitts, food packaging, and decorations. Even though you have myriad dishes to prepare, don't overload a cook top with too many pots and pans. Trying to cook all your dishes at once could cause grease to accidentally spill onto a range top and cause a fire.
- Grease can ignite quickly, so be sure to wipe the stove top and oven before cooking to remove previous grease spills or splatters.
- Never throw water on a grease fire, it's best to smother the fire by pl;acing a lid on the pan.
- Always keep a potholder, oven mitt and lid handy while cooking. If a small fire starts in a pan on the stove, put on a flame-resistant oven mitt and smother the flames by carefully sliding the lid over the pan. Turn off the burner. Don't remove the lid until the food has cooled.
- When removing lids on hot pans, tilt them away from you to protect your face and hands from steam. If there is an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the door closed to prevent flames from burning you or your clothing.
- Never wear loose fitting clothing when cooking. Long, open sleeves could ignite and catch fire from a gas flame or a hot burner. Wear short, close fitting or tightly rolled sleeves when cooking. If you have long hair, be sure to tie it back.
- Keep smoke alarms connected while cooking. Smoke alarms can save lives. Make sure smoke alarms are installed and working.
- Unplug small appliances that aren't in use. Not only will you save the energy, but you will also avoid the potential dangers if they were to be turned on accidentally.
- Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen in case of emergency and know how to use it. Make sure the fire extinguisher is UL listed and rated for grease and electrical fires.
- Never put a glass casserole dish or lid on the stove burner; if it gets too hot it could crack or shatter.
- Establish a "kid free" zone of 3 feet around the stove and use the back burner first.
- Never hold a child on your hip while cooking as it greatly increases the likelihood for burns.
- Turkey fryers should be avoided, as they can be extremely dangerous.
If you have fire damage, call SERVPRO of Tacoma for your fire restoration needs. 253-896-3000
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