December 2006

May I Have Your Attention Please?

Avoid a cooking catastrophe this holiday season

Want to dramatically cut the chances of a home fire this holiday season? It’s as simple as paying attention to what you’re cooking.

Cooking fires are the leading cause of home blazes. And since more cooking gets done this time of year, the risk goes up.

Most cooking fires are due to inattention. It’s easy for holiday hustle and bustle to pull you in many different directions at the same time.

“Almost every legitimate alarm call we get is due to a cooking fire,” says Oconee County Fire Chief Bruce Thaxton.  Just leaving the room for a minute is enough time for cooking oil to overflow and blaze up. Forgetting that something’s simmering as you hurry away to a holiday party is also easy to do.

Ovens and ranges are involved in most kitchen fires. Most often, the food ignites and then spreads to other combustibles, like cabinets, curtains or potholders. Other ignition sources involve grease from deep fat fryers and improper containers or aluminum foil used in microwave ovens.

If it happens

So what do you do if a kitchen fire happens? Don’t panic and use common sense.

• If a small fire starts on the stove, use an oven mitt or potholder to cover the pan with a lid. Turn off the eye and keep the lid in place until the pan cools.
  
• Never pour water on a grease fire.If flames break out in the oven, keep the door closed. Turn off the oven.If an appliance smells funny, seems too hot or starts to smoke, unplug it quickly. Have it serviced or replaced.
  
• If a fire breaks out in your microwave, turn it off and keep the door closed.

“Use extreme caution,” says Thaxton. “It’s not worth your health and safety to try to fight a kitchen fire that’s out of hand. It’s easier to replace cabinets and curtains than take several months to heal from burns.”

Here are some tips to avoid fires altogether:

• Stay in the kitchen and watch what’s cooking. If you have to leave the room for any amount of time, turn off the stove, oven or appliance.
  
• Use good housekeeping. Keep all materials that burn, like potholders, recipe books and food packaging well away from cooking equipment.
  
• Keep kids and pets away from cooking areas.
  
• Wear clothes with tight-fitting sleeves.
  
• Unplug electrical cooking appliance immediately after use.
  
• Don’t over fill deep fryers or pans used with oil. Allow for expansion when the oil heats up.

Thaxton also recommends the use of smoke detectors in kitchen areas. “Every home should have a smoke detector in the kitchen, but away from the cooking area.”

“You can also sit a battery-operated detector on a high shelf. This allows you to take it to another room if it’s accidentally set off during the normal course of cooking.”

More: Fire Extinguisher 101

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