It's Fire Prevention Week and North Bay Fire & Emergency Services is urging everyone to take some simple steps to prevent kitchen fires in their home.
This year’s theme of Fire Prevention Week, which runs from October 4-10, is “Serve Up Fire Safety in the Kitchen!
Cooking fires continue to be the leading cause of home fires in Ontario. It focuses on the prevention of cooking fires and staying fire safe in the kitchen.
Simple steps to serve up fire safety in the kitchen include:
- Always stay in the kitchen when cooking, especially if cooking with oil or with high temperatures and turn off the stove if you must leave the kitchen.
- Keep a proper fitting lid near the stove. If a pot of oil catches fire, slide the lid over the pot and turn off the stove. Do not move the pot. Never throw water on a grease fire.
- Keep anything that burns - plastic utensils, dishcloths, paper towels - a safe distance from the stove.
- Cook responsibly. To prevent cooking fires, you must be alert. You will not be alert if you have consumed alcohol or drugs.
- Wear tight-fitting or rolled-up sleeves when using the stove. Loose, dangling clothing can easily catch fire.
- Keep young kids one metre away from the stove. Turn pot handles away from the stove’s edge so they can’t be easily knocked off.
- If you burn yourself while cooking, run cool water over the wound for three to five minutes. If the burn is severe, seek medical attention.
Sheri Korn, Captain of Fire Prevention reminds says “cooking fires can be prevented by staying in the kitchen and staying alert; because we know you would rather be calling your family to dinner than the Fire Department. Join us Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 10:a.m. – 6 p.m. at Parker’s Your Independent Grocer and help us to ‘Fill A Fire Truck’ with food for the North Bay Food Bank.
See what water does to an oil fire below.
