NFPA Offers Cooking Safety Tips for Fire Prevention Week

Cooking safety is this year’s theme for Fire Prevention Week, October 8-14. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has officially sponsored Fire Prevention Week™ for more than 100 years. This year’s focus on safety practices aims to educate the public about simple, important steps everyone should follow to help reduce the risk of fire when cooking at home.

According to the NFPA, cooking is the leading cause of home fires and home-fire injuries. Among all home fires, unattended cooking, specifically, is the leading cause of fires and related deaths. As a proud member of the NFPA, Mountain Alarm encourages you to follow their safety tips to prevent these fires.

Cook with Caution

• Be on alert! If you are sleepy or have consumed alcohol, don’t use the oven or stovetop.

• Stay in the kitchen while you are frying, boiling, grilling, or broiling food. If you leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove.

• If you are simmering, baking, or roasting food, check it regularly, remain in the home while food is cooking, and use a timer to remind you.

• Keep anything that can catch fire–oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels, or curtains–away from your stovetop.

• In the event of a small grease fire on the stovetop, smother the flames by sliding a lid over the pan and turning off the burner. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled.

• For an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the door closed.

• If you have any doubt about fighting a small fire, just get out! When you leave, close the door behind you to help contain the fire, then call 9-1-1 or the local emergency number from outside the home.

The NFPA reminds us that “cooking safety starts with you!” Additional Fire Prevention Week resources for children, caregivers, and educators can be found at sparky.org and sparkyschoolhouse.org.