How to Prevent Kitchen Fires

2/11/2021 (Permalink)

Think about the last party you attended, back when we could safely have parties. If you’re like most people, you probably spent it mingling near the food, so you were in the kitchen. Kitchens are one of the most often visited rooms of a house for a reason. They’re homey and are where the delicious food is, so why wouldn’t you spend time there creating meals or grabbing a snack? 

However, the kitchen is also where things could go wrong in a flash. The National Fire Incident Reporting System states that there are roughly 188,800 kitchen fires every year. The majority of those fires were preventable. 

What can you do to protect your home from the soot and smoke of a kitchen fire? 

First, make sure that you have a working fire extinguisher and a fire/smoke alarm near or right in your kitchen. Yes, you’ll wind up with what we call the “dinner’s ready bell” of the smoke alarm going off sometimes while cooking, but it’s far better to be safe than sorry. 

Second, never leave food unattended while you’re cooking. It’s too easy for something to char in the oven if you’re baking at high heat, or grease to splatter when you step away. As a side note, if you have a grease fire, do NOT throw water at it. Cover the flame with a metal lid and, only if it’s small, pour baking soda or salt on it to end the fire. 

Third, never use your oven as a storage unit for anything but cookie sheets. There have been too many stories of new parents putting plastic toys away in an oven to hide them from sight when people visit, only to forget when they turn on the oven -- or worse when a toddler is learning to walk and turns the knobs in the process. 

Do you have residual smoke and soot from a kitchen fire? Contact us here at SERVPRO of Stoneham / Wakefield for an assessment on fire damage restoration.