These would be funny if they weren’t so darn scary! The Huffington Post brings us “Up In Smoke” – some very bad kitchen cooking fire experiences. Check it out here.
Never Leave Your House While Cooking
Seems like a no brainer, huh? An unattended cooking fire started about 9:30 pm in the first-floor kitchen of a multi-family, two-story dwelling caused $10,000 in damages in Evanston, OH, Monday. T. No one was home at the time, so it appears that the residents must have started cooking and then left the house. When smoke rose to the second floor, those residents evacuated. No one was injured.
Gilbert Firefighter: How to Prevent Kitchen Fires
Gilbert Arizona firefighter Mike Conner is deputy chief of Gilbert Fire & Rescue Department, Community Services Division. Here is his advice which originally appeared in the Arizona Republic website.
Question: What should I do if I have a cooking fire?
Answer: Cooking fires are the number one cause of house fires and injuries. The main contributor is unattended cooking, which is the cause of nearly 90 percent of these fires.
Fires are more likely to start in the kitchen than in any other room in your home. The National Fire Protection Association reported that in 2011 cooking was involved in an estimated 156,300 structure fires and caused 470 deaths, 5,390 injuries and more than $1 billion in property damage.
The statistic that should be an eye-opener is that more than half of reported non-fatal cooking-fire injuries occurred when people tried to fight the fires themselves. Most of these are from incorrect techniques like using water to fight a grease fire.
Never leave food that is cooking unattended — whether frying, grilling or using the broiler. If you must leave, turn off the appliance. When you’re baking, check it regularly and never leave your home.
Keep your work area clear of anything that can catch on fire: oven mitts, towels, food packaging. Loose clothing can be a danger, wear short and close-fitting sleeves when cooking. Also be aware of loose-fitting aprons that can dangle onto burners.
When using cooking oil, if it starts to boil, remove it from the heat source and let it cool before adding food. If oil catches on fire, wear an oven mitt and slide a lid over the pan or use a baking sheet to cover it. Having a lid out on the counter, even if you’re not using it, is a good idea in case of a fire. A fire extinguisher kept in the kitchen is also a great idea.
If you can’t cover a grease fire or can’t access the fire extinguisher, call 911.
Photo Montage of Cooking Disasters
Not everyone cooks so well that they can be on Top Chef or Food Network Stars. But these funny yet pathetic cooking disasters illustrate how dangerous cooking can be. Seriously, you can actually catch spaghetti on fire! Checkout these disastrous cooking FAILS!
Guardian SSI Exhibits at Georgia Fire Safety Symposium
Guardian Safety Solutions International, Inc. (GSSI), the leader in the development and manufacturing of residential range top fire protection systems, will exhibit at the Georgia Fire Safety Symposium, July 28 – 30, at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, Forsyth, GA.
“We are excited to demonstrate our ‘Guardian Solution’ range top suppression system that protects against a range top fire before it causes property damage or injuries,” said Paul Rouse, Guardian SSI’s administrative officer. “The purpose of this symposium is to instill an awareness of individual responsibility for safety and prevention at home, school, work and in all areas of life. The objective is to decrease Georgia’s alarming fire death rate and to take fire prevention education to cities and counties that do not have it and to enhance those that do.”
GSSI manufactures the Guardian III Model G300B, UL and ULC listed with a fuel shut-off. The Guardian is designed to detect and extinguish cooking fires and prevent re-ignition in private homes, apartments, senior housing, college campuses, hospitals and other facilities. See how the Guardian works here.
Once it detects heat at a pre-determined temperature, the Guardian sends a signal to release an extinguishing agent that suppresses the fire. Guardian will also shut off the gas or electric supply to the stove in order to prevent reigniting. The design of the system offers:
- automatic operation
- continuous 24-hour protection
- concealed installation
- easy clean-up
- proven reliability
For more information, contact GSSI at 800-786-2178 or visit www.guardianssi.com. “Like” Guardian on Facebook at Fire Prevention News www.facebook.com/GuardianSSI and follow on Twitter @GuardianSSI.
About GSSI
Protecting families worldwide since 1985, Guardian Safety Solutions International Inc. is the recognized leader in the development and manufacturing of residential range top fire protection systems. GSSI’s mission is to develop and distribute quality safety products that provide customers with peace of mind, while protecting lives and property. See ICC-ES Listing No
PMG-1166 at www.icc-es.org\pmg.
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Media Contact:
Susan Tellem, APR, RN, BSN
Tellem Grody PR, Inc.
310.313.3444 x1
Arlington Apartment Fire in Dallas This Weekend Preventable
The Chula Vista Apartments off East Park Row Drive kitchen fire in Dallas, our hometown, at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday was preventable. Sadly, about 45 house fires are reported every hour in the U.S., and 60 percent of apartment fires are started by cooking. Paul Rouse, Administrative Officer/Sales & Operations Director for Guardian Safety Solutions International, Inc. is a 34-year veteran of the fire industry. He says more than 12 million unintentional home cooking fires go unreported causing 640,000 injuries annually.
Rouse says Texas, as well as other states, should require mandatory range top suppression equipment in new buildings or remodels just like sprinklers and earthquake shut-off valves are. GSSI manufactures the Guardian III Model G300B, UL and ULC listed with a fuel shut-off.
“The Guardian is designed to detect and extinguish cooking fires and prevent re-ignition in private homes, apartments, senior housing, college campuses, hospitals and other facilities. Even older kitchens can be retrofitted as well,” Rouse said. (See how the Guardian works here).
Unattended Cooking Causes Mobile Home Fire
Fire officials say a Lee County man’s mobile home caught fire after he left food cooking on the stove and went to the store. Video of the event is available from WALB-TV here. The kitchen was pretty much destroyed because smoke gets up in the mobile home attic spaces which are small and the insulation gets very hot.
Never leave cooking unattended. If you must leave the room, turn off the stove, and never leave to go shopping.
Peabody, MA Resident OK After Kitchen Fire
A townhouse cooking fire resident is thankful that the American Red Cross is helping him find a place to stay after he had a kitchen fire this week. Although it was reported to be a small kitchen fire, via the Peabody Patch, the townhouse unit was affected by water and smoke damage. The resident was OK, according to officials.
Injuries From Hot Stoves Heating Up
According to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal, an estimated five Americans are treated in an ER every hour for burns, scalds and related injuries from hot or poorly installed stoves. Important: most of the injuries could have been prevented with proper education about child safety gates, proper cooking clothing and installation information. A study conducted over 21 years showed that almost one million stove injuries were recorded with more than half in women.
