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Fire Safety in the Kitchen – The kitchen is one of the busiest and most important rooms in the home. It’s not just where we prepare food, but it’s also where we eat most meals and could also double as an office and a homework space. Unfortunately, the kitchen is also the scene of many fires. The heat sources used for cooking food are a natural fire hazard. If we do not take the appropriate precautions, we can easily have a kitchen fire. Some other missteps can compound the risk by putting our lives in danger.
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Fortunately, kitchen fires are highly preventable. A few simple habits can allow us to cook, eat, and gather safely in this very busy room. These eight tips will help you keep your kitchen a safe, functional place for the whole family. Click here for the Best-Selling Fire Safety Products.
A very common cause of kitchen fires is inattention. We get busy doing something else and we don’t notice that something has overheated, overflowed, or turned over. Soon there’s a growing fire that threatens not just the home but also our lives.
It’s not surprising that we get distracted in the kitchen. After all, it may simultaneously have one person cutting up vegetables, one washing dishes, and one doing homework. Sometimes everybody assumes that somebody else is watching the stove when it turns out that no one is.
As funny as the movies have made it look to have something catch fire in the kitchen, it is a very dangerous situation. Avoid this problem by making sure that somebody is keeping an eye on all cooking equipment, including the range, the oven, and any countertop appliances such as air fryers and toaster ovens.
Keeping Fuels Away
When you think of fuel, you probably think of gasoline or diesel. Fire doesn’t see it that way. Anything that can burn is fuel, whether it’s a roll of paper towels, a bundle of napkins, or a bottle of vegetable oil.
When these fuels get too close to burners, the risk of fire is greatly increased. Not only could they be ignited when a stove-top fire reaches them, but they can also be overturned onto a hot burner and start a fire of their own. The material can ignite rapidly, spreading to even more nearby fuels and quickly making the kitchen a very dangerous place.
Maintain a clear space around all heat sources in the kitchen. This is easy enough with fixed appliances like the range, but it’s easy to forget what’s close by when you set up a deep fryer or electric skillet. Designate a space for these appliances and keep it free of other flammable materials.
Performing Regular Maintenance
Failure to keep things clean and in working order is a very common cause of fires of all kinds, not just those in the kitchen. Accumulations of grease under range hoods, dripped food in burners, and even buildups of crumbs in the bottom of a toaster can easily ignite and start a larger fire.
The appliances themselves can cause fires as well. Electrical wiring can deteriorate thanks to rodents, rough handling, or the simple passage of time. Gas lines are also susceptible to damage. Internal wiring on all appliances may eventually break apart and cause a dangerous arc.
Keep all owner’s manuals for appliances in the kitchen. Review their suggested maintenance schedules and follow them closely. Address any malfunctions immediately; an appliance that doesn’t work correctly, overheats, trips breakers, or otherwise acts up could be very dangerous and should not be used until it has been repaired.
Placing Fire Extinguishers Properly
The first line of defense we usually have against a kitchen fire is a fire extinguisher. However, these important devices are only as helpful as they are available. A fire extinguisher that has not been properly maintained will supply only an underwhelming puff of dust when used on a fire.
Equally important is the location of the fire extinguisher. Because we anticipate using them on the stove we often assume that we should place the extinguisher close to the stove. However, a large grease fire can easily limit access to the extinguisher if it’s too close by. Install it a couple steps away from those areas to make sure the fire never blocks your access to it.
Another consideration on storage of fire extinguishers is their visibility. Sometimes it’s tempting to put these big, bulky red devices inside a cabinet or closet where it can’t be seen. As you choose the exact location, bear in mind that you’re more likely to remember the extinguisher when it’s visible. You also don’t want it behind closed doors that could make it slow to access.
Having a Plan B for Extinguishment
Fire extinguishers are the most reliable method of putting out a kitchen fire, but they can fail even when properly maintained. A safe kitchen will be set up to provide another option for smaller fires.
The most important thing is never to use water. There are many online videos showing what can happen when water is poured on a grease fire. The intensification and spread are frightening and should serve as a reminder that water is not a safe option.
Many fires will go out quickly if the heat or electricity are eliminated. Turning off burners and unplugging power cords are often enough to eliminate the threat. Smothering with flour or a lid can work as well, as long as the flour is easy to access and the lid fits properly.
Using Smoke Detectors
The most important fire safety tool in your home is a smoke detector. Properly maintained, these essential devices are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ready to alert your family to fire. Like extinguishers, detectors require correct placement and maintenance to be ready for duty.
Every kitchen has the occasional puff of harmless smoke from a splatter on a burner or a little scorching in the oven. When detectors are too close to the action, these mishaps will activate them. Locate detectors a few steps away from the most active cooking areas so that only a real issue will set them off.
Once again, test your detectors. Test them weekly and change the batteries every six months. An easy way to remember that is to replace batteries when you change the clocks for Daylight Saving Time.
Measuring Properly
A common cause of fires on the stove is overflowing oil. While it is heated up in the skillet, it stays well within the container. Once the food is added, the displaced oil runs over the side of the skillet and ignites on the burner. The fire trails back to the skillet and creates a large grease fire.
Another issue is timing. It is very easy to make a typing error on a digital timer, setting an oven for 100 minutes instead of ten. If you’re distracted when the cook time reaches 15 minutes, then 20, and maybe then 25, you can easily have a fire in the oven or on the cook-top.
Use caution in measuring contents of pots and skillets. When adding food to hot oil, place it in the oil slowly to prevent splashing and overflow. Double-check all timers when entering times and don’t forget to check in on food along the way even if the timer hasn’t run out yet.
Dressing for the Job
Clothing is a common fire hazard during cooking. Long, baggy sleeves, untucked shirts, and other bulky garments can easily come into contact with hot burners and ignite. They can also snag on pot handles and cause skillets to spill onto burners or onto the user.
Burning clothing is uniquely dangerous in the kitchen, more so than outside. The kitchen may be too small to act on the childhood lesson to stop, drop, and roll. Sometimes footwear and pants are not conducive to quick movement, making it difficult to react when a fire occurs. Burning clothes compounded by a fire on the stove that started in the same incident can be a deadly and destructive situation.
As soon as work begins in the kitchen, everyone should check their clothing. Long sleeves should be securely rolled up or replaced by short ones. Aprons can help contain baggy garments but should themselves fit snugly and be tied securely. Baggy pants, dressy shoes, and other clothing that can impede movement should be replaced by things that are more suitable for quickly moving away from a fire and retrieving a fire extinguisher.
Kitchen fires can be a frightening experience, but they can be easy to deal with. Prevention is always the best strategy. It’s important to couple that with good preparation steps for responding to a fire. Make sure that you are personally protected and that you have systems in place to alert the family to the fire, along with at least two options for putting out the fire if it is still small enough to manage. These plans will make your kitchen as safe as it is busy.
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