Prevent Cooking Fires
Prevent Cooking Fires:
Watch What You Heat!
 Cooking
equipment is involved in more than 100,000 reported home fires
annually so the Niles City Fire Department asks you to pay
attention when you cook. Most cooking fires occur because of
unattended cooking. Stay in the kitchen when frying, grilling,
broiling, or boiling food. If you must leave turn off the heat
source. When simmering, baking or roasting food, make sure you
check it regularly. A good way to do that is to use a timer to
remind yourself to check the stove. Never leave dish towels,
pot holders or oven mitts on your stove.
Grease fires can occur quickly. Make sure you have an
oven mitt and a lid near by. When a fire occurs avoid the
impulse to take the pan outside -- this can lead to serious burns
and an uncontrollable fire. Simply place a lid onto the pan
and turn off the burner. If it is safe, sliding the pan to
another cool burner is also acceptable. Never pour water on
a grease fire. If you don't have a lid use a fire
extinguisher to put the fire out. For many grease fires you
can sprinkle baking soda on the fire to put it out. It’s a
good idea to always keep baking soda stored near your stove.
Remember the most important thing in these situations is that
everyone makes it safely out of the home before a fire becomes
uncontrollable. If the fire is too big -- get your family
out of the house fast and call 911 from a neighbor's home.
Children can be easily burned from spills and other mishaps
occurring near stoves while cooking. Make these Safety
Tips second nature in your household: Always turn pot, pan and
skillet handles inward and when possible ensure the handles are
facing the rear of the stove. . . this reduces the chance of
accidental scalding of not only curious children but also anyone
else who comes near the stove. Teach children to stay at least
3 feet away from the stove at all times when you are cooking.
This will help ensure that children will not be in the wrong place
at the wrong time to receive unnecessary, painful and sometimes life
changing burn injuries. When your child is old enough to take
on directly supervised small tasks at the stove. . . TEACH
SAFETY FIRST!
Have you ever been broiling and noticed a fire in your oven?
The first reaction is to open the door to extinguish the fire.
Ovens are designed to hold heat. The best approach is to leave
the door shut, turn off the heat, and call 911.
Finally, standard microwave ovens typically require 750 to
1100 watts of electricity to operate. Make sure that they
are plugged into an outlet and never into an extension cord to
prevent overloading the circuit and causing a fire. Use only
microwave safe containers. Allow food to cool for a few
minutes before removing it from the unit.
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