This year’s Fire Prevention Week runs until October 10th with the theme ‘Serve Up Fire Safety In The Kitchen’.
Dauphin Fire Chief Cam Abrey says the theme was chosen because cooking incidents remain the leading cause of home fires in North America.
“When we talk about cooking, it is the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries. Thanksgiving, Christmas, when typically everybody got together in large groups and you’d have a very large meal, which is going to look a little bit different this year possibly due to COVID restrictions. But, those large gatherings were the leading days for fires that involve cooking equipment.”
As unattended cooking is the leading cause of fire in the kitchen, Cam Abrey has some tips to avoid accidents.
- Stay in the kitchen when you’re frying, boiling, grilling, broiling, simmering, baking, or roasting, whatever you’re doing.
- Check it regularly.
- Keep a lid nearby in case of a small fire, you can safely slide the lid over top of the pan, turn off the burner, and leave the pan covered until it’s cool.
- Keep anything that can catch fire away from the stovetop.
- Make sure you don’t have any loose-fitting clothing that could come across the burner or make contact with anything that’s hot.
- If you have children around, make sure they’re a metre away from the stove or other areas where there’s hot food or drinks.
Abrey says it’s not only fires you have to worry about with the burns, but hot water or spitting grease as well.
In the past, the themes stand by your pan and watch what you heat have been used to keep people in the kitchen.
“One of the other things we like to tell people when we’re out doing public education is ‘keep a wooden spoon in your hand.’ So that if you’re distracted by the phone ringing or the television and you do wander out of the kitchen, you’ve got this wooden spoon in your hand that’s going to remind you, ‘I’ve got something on the stove or in the oven, I’ve gotta go back in there.’ So, little things like that.”
Dauphin’s fire chief also had some general fire safety tips.
- Check your smoke alarms. Working fire alarms can detect and alert people to the fire when it’s in its early stage. Abrey says it’s not fire that kills, but the smoke that overcomes the victims.
- Have smoke alarms set in every bedroom. The code requires a smoke alarm on every level of the home and new construction requires one in each sleeping area.
- Test your smoke alarms every month using the test button.
- Plan and practice at-home fire drills.
- Make sure everyone in your home knows your address, especially in rural areas. That way, if someone needs to call 911, they can report where they are so the emergency services can find them.
- Keep things at least a metre away from your furnace and hot water tanks.
- Make sure nothing’s on top of baseboard heaters.
- If you have any equipment such as a portable heater, Abrey says to make sure there’s a ULC or a CSA label on them, to know they’re safe to use.
Abrey says even if it’s a small kitchen fire, get the emergency services rolling as fast as possible. He adds that the fire department can check for fire extension and assist the homeowners with getting smoke out of the home.
“Your safety comes first, so we don’t want anybody getting hurt, we don’t want the fire growing beyond their control. The earlier that we’re notified, the better it is.”
Due to COVID restrictions this year, the fire department doesn’t have a lot planned for Fire Prevention Week. There won’t be an open house at the fire hall or any visits to the schools. But, they’ll be partnering with the Dauphin Kings on October 17th for some fire awareness. Fire trucks will be on scene outside, Sparky will be there greeting everybody, and there’ll be some giveaways.
