Did You Know

2/11/2022 (Permalink)

Three out of five people who were injured during cooking fires were injured while trying to fight the fire themselves. Ranges or cook-tops are the most common equipment involved in home cooking fires. These account for 58 percent of fires. Ovens account for 16 percent. Microwave ovens are more dangerous than most folks think. They are one of the leading home products associated with scald burn injuries, accounting for 44 percent of the microwave injuries seen in emergency rooms in 2011. In the kitchen, it usually is not fires that burn young kids. More often, it is contact with a hot stove or pans or a scald from hot cooking liquids or steam. In fact, children under age 5 accounted for 55 percent of tableware scalds, 42 percent of contact burns from ranges or ovens, and 34 percent of microwave scalds in 2011.

1. Cook only when you are alert -- not when you are exhausted, not when you have been drinking.
2. Keep an eye on what you fry. If you must step away from the stove, turn it off.
3. Keep things that can catch fire -- such as dish towels, potholders, and paper towels -- away from the stove. And avoid cooking in your bathrobe -- the loose sleeves can catch fire easily.
4. Keep hot things away from the edges of tables and counters.
5. Open microwaved food slowly and keep the food away from your face.
6. Have a "kid-free" zone of at least three feet around the stove and anything hot -- and never hold your child while you are cooking or carrying something hot.
7. Teach kids to stay away from the stove and hot foods.
8. Keep pets off cooking surfaces.
9. Install smoke alarms in the kitchen, outside each sleeping area, inside each bedroom, and on every level of your home (including the basement).

If you have a fire, just get outside, stay outside, and call the fire department.

If you are in need of fire remediation services, do not delay call SERVPRO OF SANTA ROSA 850-939-4700