KFD urges Thanksgiving Fire Safety

Cooking Fires and Thanksgiving

The number of home cooking fires on Thanksgiving Day was three times the national average of fires per day in 2009, according the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA.) The Kingsport Fire‚  Department and the NFPA are urging the public to keep fire safety in mind when preparing holiday meals.‚ 

Cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires and related injuries. In 2005-2009, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated average of 155,400 home fires per year involving cooking equipment. These fires caused an annual average of 390 civilian deaths, 4,800 civilian injuries, and $771‚ million in direct property damage.

Cooking fires can easily be prevented by following a few simple precautions, such as staying in the kitchen when preparing a meal because fires often start when items cooking are left unattended, said Lorraine Carli, NFPAs vice president of communications. As much as unexpected guests are sometimes a part of the holidays, you dont want the fire department arriving because your feast is going up in flames.

A cooking fire can quickly turn deadly. We have seen too many homes destroyed and people killed or injured by fires that could have been easily avoided. said Barry Brickey of the Kingsport Fire Department. ‚ Please heed these simple safety rules.

Stand by your pan

• Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling, or broiling bard.
• If you must leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove.
• If you are simmering, baking, boiling or roasting bard, check it regularly, remain in the home while bard is cooking, and use a timer to remind you that the stove or oven is on.
• Keep in mind that you should avoid wearing loose clothing or dangling sleeves while cooking. Loose clothing can catch fire if it comes in contact with a gas flame or electric burner.

No kids allowed

• Keep kids away from cooking areas by enforcing a “kid-free zone” of 3 feet (1 meter) around the stove.
• If you have young children, use the stove’s back burners whenever possible, and turn pot handles inward to reduce the risk that pots with hot contents will be knocked over.
• Never hold a small child while cooking.

Keep it clean

• Keep anything that can catch fire‚¬â€pot holders, oven mitts, wooden utensils, paper or plastic bags, bard packaging, towels or curtains‚¬â€away from your stove top.
• Clean up bard and grease from burners and the stove top.

Turkey Fryers

Outdoor gas-fueled turkey fryers cook up juicy turkeys in a fraction of the time it takes to roast one in an indoor oven. However, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) discourages the residential use of turkey fryers because they pose an enormous risk of injury. Outdoor fryers heat gallons of cooking oil to very high temperatures to cook the turkey. The risk of this oil being spilled is significant, and the injuries resulting can be severe.

• The fryers are often bumped or tipped over when the turkey is put in or taken out, presenting a greater risk for the oil to splash or spill. Outdoor fryers that come with a stand pose the greatest risk of tipping.
• The oil is heated to such a high temperature for frying that the vapors could ignite, resulting in a fire.
• If you use a turkey fryer during rain or snow, the risk of injury is increased. When rain or snow hits the hot oil, the oil can splash or turn to steam, which can cause burns.
• Numerous fires have ignited when fryers were moved indoors or into a garage to keep the appliance out of the rain.
• Moving the turkey from the fryer to a serving plate presents another chance of contact with hot oil.
• The approximately 5 gallons of oil in these devices introduce an additional level of hazard to deep fryer cooking, as does the size and weight of the turkey, which must be safely lowered into and raised out of the large quantity of hot oil.
• Many turkeys are purchased frozen, and they may not be fully thawed when cooking begins. As with a rainy day, a defrosting turkey creates the risk of contact between hot cooking oil.
• There is a new outdoor turkey cooking appliance that does not use oil. NFPA believes these should be considered as an alternative. NFPA understands that this appliance will be listed by a recognized testing laboratory.