Top 4 Safety Tips to Avoid a Fire This Holiday Season

11/11/2019 (Permalink)

Cooking is the number one cause for fires

According to the National Fire Protection Association, there are more fires in the winter months than any other time of the year. This makes perfect sense as it is colder in winter. We turn to our heating systems like space heaters, fireplaces, woodstoves, and other heat devices to keep us warm.

Not only do we have our heat running to keep us cozy but most of us opt to bring in the holidays with a lot of food. Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations call for a lot of cooking. The number one cause of home fires happens to be just that, cooking! No need to skip on your favorite savory meals this winter in hopes to prevent fires this holiday season, just take a few extra precautionary steps to avoid fires.

 Here are some tips to avoid cooking fires.

1. If you must leave the kitchen while your stove or oven is on have someone else in the home check on food while you are away.
2. If no one is available to check on your food while you step away, a good tip from safebee.com is to carry one of your oven mitts when you step out of the kitchen. Doing so will work as a reminder to go back to the kitchen to tend to your food.
3. Children and pets should not be in cooking areas without supervision.
4. Ensure when cooking you wear close-fitting clothes and make sure that your sleeves are tightly rolled when stirring food. Clothes often catch fire when they hang close to the stove burners so just be mindful of this.

 Taking these steps will decrease your chances of having a cooking fire.

If you should have a stove fire what now? In the event of a fire and if it is safe for you to do so, turn off the burner immediately and cover the pan with a lid. Do not use water, baking soda or flour to extinguish grease fires. Another great tip is to not carry burning pots or pans through the house as they can easily spread the fire to other parts of the home. If your oven catches fire, turn off the oven and keep the oven door shut.

Have an emergency evacuation plan and call 9-1-1 as soon as it is safe for you to do so. Once all is settled and the fire is extinguished call SERVPRO of Manteca and Modesto for your fire damage restoration needs.