The holiday season is fast approaching — which typically means gathering
with family, friends and lots of food. According to the National Fire
Prevention Association, Thanksgiving Day results in an average of three
times more residential structure fires involving cooking equipment than
a typical day. Don’t be a “turkey” this Thanksgiving — be prepared to
respond should a fire emergency occur.
“The holidays offer a time when novice chefs take on enormous kitchen
challenges, such as deep frying turkeys and baking elaborate pies,” said
Tommy Thompson, Vice President, Cintas Fire Protection. “By following
these tips, you can help make sure a gathering with friends and family
doesn’t turn into a tragedy.”
Follow these simple tips to avoid home cooking fires and combat them
should one occur:
-
Pay attention while you cook. Cooking fires can start in
seconds, so it is important to remain focused on the task at hand when
preparing holiday meals. Stay in the kitchen while you cook. If you
need to leave for any reason, turn off the stove. Set timers so you
don’t forget that you are cooking.
-
Keep flammable objects away from the heat source. Do not put
oven mitts, aprons, paper towels or other items that could catch fire
near open flames or hot surfaces. Avoid wearing loose-fitting clothing
that could come into contact with the heat source and ignite.
-
Remove the heat source and contain the fire. If a small fire
occurs on a stovetop and you can safely contain it, simply put a lid
on the pan and turn off the heat source. Do not attempt to remove a
burning pan from your home — you could spread the fire through your
home or severely burn yourself. Wait until the pan has completely
cooled before attempting to remove it. If you have an oven fire, turn
the oven off and keep the door closed.
-
If available, use a dry chemical fire extinguisher. Do not
attempt to put water on a grease fire or use a water-based
extinguisher — you will make the fire worse. If you attempt to fight
the fire yourself, be sure that other occupants are evacuating your
home and that you have a clear path of escape should you fail to
extinguish the fire.
-
Exit your home and call 911. If you have any doubt that you can
effectively extinguish the fire on your own, exit your home and
immediately alert the fire department.
For more information on Cintas’ fire protection services for businesses,
please visit http://www.cintas.com/Fire
About Cintas Corporation:
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas Corporation provides highly
specialized services to businesses of all types primarily throughout
North America. Cintas designs, manufactures and implements corporate
identity uniform programs, and provides entrance mats, restroom cleaning
and supplies, tile and carpet cleaning, promotional products, first aid,
safety, fire protection products and services and document management
services for more than 1 million businesses. Cintas is a publicly held
company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol
CTAS and is a component of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
Copyright Business Wire 2013