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GuardianSSI Observes National Campus Fire Safety Month

The University of Kentucky #FireMarshal‘s Office kicks off September’s Campus Safety Month with a dramatic demonstration of how quickly a fire can start in a college dorm room. https://uknow.uky.edu/uk-happenings/uk-celebrates-national-campus-fire-safety-month-blazing-demonstration.

We are observing this important month as well. Read more.

Dallas – September 1, 2017 – Guardian Safety Solutions International, Inc. (GSSI), the nation’s largest provider of range top fire suppression systems, will observe national Campus Fire Safety Month throughout September. The observance was launched in 2005 by the Center for Campus Fire Safety to unite nationwide fire and university officials to improve fire and life safety on campus. In addition to loss of life and injuries from cooking fires, campus cooking fires cause more than $9.4 million in damages each year.

“Most of the parental fears when sending kids off to college concern safety. But, I suspect that many parents rank fear of kitchen fires well below those of drugs, alcohol, crime and other campus issues,” said Paul Rouse, GSSI’s administrative officer. “They shouldn’t. In fact, dear parents, college fires should move up to the top of your list of concerns since 83 percent of college campus fires are cooking related.”

Besides rigorous college courses, there are many demands on young adults’ attention in today’s busy world – texting, emails, friends visiting, the hectic start of college life and possibly alcohol and drug consumption. It’s pretty easy for college kids to start to cook a meal and forget about it. Next thing you know, a fire spreads from a stove or hot plate to curtains and other highly-flammable material in a dorm room or apartment. Putting the fire out quickly is imperative to minimize injury to students and damage to the building and belongings.

Ranges or cooktops accounted for the majority cooking fire incidents. “Prevention is the core of our ‘Guardian Solution’ range top suppression system. That’s why we observe fire prevention all year, not just this month,” said Rouse. “The time to protect college students against a range top fires is before they strike. Once campuses install the Guardian, parents can rest at ease.” He added that off-campus apartment s and student housing kitchens can be retrofitted as well. With the system, a fire can be extinguished in as little as seven seconds (video).

Most college fires are due to lack of knowledge about fire safety and prevention. So what can parents do to help minimize risks? Here’s some basic advice to discuss with college students and the college administration.

  1. Make sure there are smoke detectors installed and that the batteries are fresh.
  2. Teach your kid how to use a fire extinguisher. Before they leave for school, practice using one with your child and make sure there is at least one available in the cooking area at the dorm.
  3. Discuss escape routes when you deliver your college student to the dorm.
  4. Emphasize that leaving a building when a fire alarm goes off is imperative. It could save your child’s life. Emphasize that no property or memento is worth dying for.
  5. Learn to properly use and maintain stoves and cooking appliances.

It’s also a good idea to talk to the head of the cafeteria on campus and dorm manager about fire safety. Make sure that they:

  • Install smoke alarms in every room and test weekly.
  • Inspect rooms and buildings for fire hazards regularly.
  • Make sure exit doors and windows are working properly.
  • Conduct fire drills and practice escape routes.
  • Get to know on-campus public safety personnel

An inexpensive way to prevent tragedies from cooking is to have the college install an automatic range top suppression system over each stove in dorm room cooking areas. They are designed to detect and extinguish cooking fires and at the same time prevent re-ignition. Installed sprinkler systems can also prevent deaths and injuries, as well as reduce millions of dollars in property damage. College life is meant to be a wonderful beginning not a tragic end. Take these steps to protect precious children to ensure a safe and fun college experience.

For more information, visit www.guardianssi.com. Like on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GuardianSSI and 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.

Press contact only:

Susan M. Tellem, APR, RN, BSN, Tellem Grody PR, Inc. 310-313-3444 x1; susan@tellemgrodypr.com

September 11, 2017 Comments (0) Blog, Colleges, Fire marshals, Press Releases, Schools

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Senior Housing and Senior Centers Need the Guardian Solution

According to the Lohud Journal News, “More than 30 Carmel residents can’t return to their homes after a fire ripped through a senior citizen housing complex early Tuesday morning. No residents were injured in the fire at Hughson Commons on Gables Way, but 32 of them were displaced,” Red Cross spokeswoman Abigail Adams said.

senior fire carmelPick up the paper or turn on the news.  About 45 house fires are reported every hour in the U.S., and 60 percent of apartment fires are started by cooking equipment.  More than 12 million unintentional home cooking fires go unreported causing 640,000 injuries annually.  It just takes minutes for a fire to start https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2FCgtlITUM.

Unfortunately, many fire injuries and deaths are among those over 50.  As we age, poor hearing and vision, as well as health problems affecting mobility contribute to putting mature adults in the highest risk group for cooking fires.  In addition to the destruction of property estimated at $7 billion per year in the U.S. alone, the National Fire Protection Association reports that 43 percent of people who have died in cooking fires were asleep at the time.  It’s easy to see that the growing baby boomer populations is at higher risk because they generally fall asleep early and are more forgetful.

According to US News, between 2000 and 2010, the number of people age 65 to 84 in the U.S. grew by 3.3 million, and the 40 million senior citizens in 2012 will balloon to 89 million by 2050.

This a wakeup call to not just those who live alone or with a spouse now that the kids have grown and moved out, but also for those in the senior housing industry, and the adult children who care for elderly parents. Developers spend millions building beautiful retirement communities with many amenities that cater to people over 50, but do not consider that distraction, forgetfulness and memory loss can pose significant dangers to the residents who cook.  We increase cooking safety by requiring that all new senior housing requires, at the very least, a range top suppression system in both private apartments and community kitchens.

Further, with the recession and the concurrent reduction in fire fighter staff seen in cities big and small, it would be equally smart to stop fires before they start.  States should require mandatory range top suppression equipment in new buildings or remodels just like sprinklers and earthquake shut-off valves are.

In the meantime, there are some safety precautions that boomers can take to prevent cooking fires:

  • Never leave cooking unattended. A serious fire can start in just seconds.
  • Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and practice using it.
  • Have a pot cover close by to put out a cooking fire quickly.
  • Wipe up spills from the stove which could catch fire.
  • Always wear short or tight-fitting sleeves when you cook.
  • Keep towels, pot holders and curtains away from flames.
  • Don’t overfill pans with grease or cooking oil.
  • Never use the range or oven to heat your home.
  • Double-check the kitchen before you go to bed or leave the house.
  • Never leave the kitchen to answer the door, grab the telephone, or change clothes while something is cooking without shutting the gas or electricity off.
  • It is dangerous to cook while on certain prescription medications or drinking alcohol.

For more information on the Carmel fire, read this http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/putnam/carmel/2016/11/15/fire-carmel-senior-complex/93875012/

November 21, 2016 Comments (0) Blog

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Kitchen Safety Tips from the Dinner Diva

the-dinner-divaWe stumbled on a great bunch of kitchen safety tips Leanne Ely who goes by the moniker the Dinner Diva.  Take these to heart and read more at SavingDinner.com. Of course, to be extra safe, install the Guardian III G300B which puts out range top fires in seconds.

Be aware of flammables. Stop putting those oven mitts and kitchen towels anywhere near the stove top. You might think you are safe because you don’t leave flammables next to your element, but remember what happened to my friend, when a spark caused a tea towel to catch fire . . . a tea towel that was hanging off the oven door (where many of us often place these things!). Curtains, appliance cords and anything else that can melt or catch fire should have a safe amount of distance between it and the stove.

Dress appropriately. Loose fitting clothing can catch fire. When you’re cooking—especially over propane burners—,keep baggy shirts tucked in or tied back with a well-fitting apron. Avoid wearing long, flowing sleeves when you’re at the stove, too.

Don’t leave the kitchen. If you have something cooking in the kitchen, stay in the room. If you absolutely have to step out of the kitchen while you’re cooking, take the pots and pans off the heat or turn off the boiler. Unattended pots and pans is the most common cause of kitchen fires.

Know your smoke points. Become familiar with the smoking points of the fats and oils you use for cooking. Oils with low smoke points brought to high temperatures can catch fire.

Dispose of grease responsibly. That means not throwing hot grease in the garbage can—it can cause something in the trash can to ignite. Wait until the grease cools and then dispose of it.

Clean grease spills. If you spill grease during cooking and it falls into the drip pan under your stove’s cooking element, turn off the heat and wait for the burner to cool down; then, clean up the spill. Otherwise, the next time you go to cook something, you’ll probably forget about the grease being there and it could easily ignite.

Use appropriate cooking utensils. If you’re cooking something in a deep layer of oil, be sure to use long-handled tongs to allow you to safely put food in and take food out without causing grease to splash out over the sides. In fact, deep fat cooking should only be done in a deep fryer.

Watch for smoke. When your cooking oil starts smoking, that means it’s close to catching fire and you need to carefully remove the pan from the heat source.

In case the worst case scenario happens, be sure to have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen where it’s in easy reach. Never, ever put water on a grease fire because it can make the fire spread.

 

August 17, 2015 Comments (0) Blog, Multi-Family, Residential

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Braille Institute Launches New Kitchen Confidence Program

kitchen confidence Kitchen safety is always on our mind, and we’d love to congratulate the Braille Institute for reintroducing their Kitchen Confidence Program, which offers free cooking, nutrition, and safety classes for the blind and visually impaired. The program is supported by the Elaine F. Stepanek Foundation, and is taught by full-time, home management instructors who also help develop curriculum to support healthy eating on a budget and healthy habits to monitor cholesterol and sugar levels, as these conditions have been shown to affect eye health.

The Kitchen Confidence Program inspires blind and vision-impaired adults to be more self-sufficient and responsible with their health, and also allows them to consider the kitchen a safe and manageable place.

Here are some of the fantastic features the program offers:
• Integrates mobile and assistive technology with common kitchen appliances and utensils. Technology such as mobile tablet workstations replay audio instructions and enlarge text as needed, to aid people with low vision.
• Uses a specially created teaching kitchen with stations for gas and electric stove tops, ovens, microwaves, and other small appliances.
• Is included as part of the Braille Institute’s core set of free classes (Other example offerings are classes in living skills and getting around town).
• Teaches low vision adults to create nutritious meals, grocery shop, safely use knives and kitchen appliances, organize and manage a kitchen, and avoid and handle injuries.

Eventually, the Braille Institute hopes to expand their program to include virtual classrooms, thereby enabling them to reach larger numbers of blind and vision-impaired adults, and empower them to feel safe and confident in the kitchen. Take a look at the Institute’s website to see what else they’re up to, and always remember to practice safe cooking habits in your own home too! For more information, contact Michael Lazarovits, Executive Director of Braille Institute Santa Barbara at 805-682-6222.

May 14, 2015 Comments (0) Blog

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Don’t “Drink and Fry” This 4th of July

Guardian Safety Solutions International, Inc. (GSSI), the nation’s largest provider of residential range top fire suppression systems, asks cooks to not “drink and fry” this 4th of July. More fires are reported on the 4th of July than any other day of the year according to FEMA.

frying pan“While many fires are started by fireworks, cooking is the third most common cause of fires on July 4th,” said Paul Rouse, GSSI’s administrative officer.  “It’s a day when people get together for parties, and drinking alcohol is part of the festivities.  It’s easy to get distracted when you have too much to drink, so fires start when something is cooking on the stove, and you leave the room to join guests. Unfortunately, it happens often resulting in injuries and death.”

10 tips for cooking fire safety on July 4th are:

  1. Never leave a room while cooking.
  2. If you must leave the room while cooking, turn off the stove.
  3. Keep pot handles turned to the back of the stove so children cannot grab them.
  4. Wear short sleeves or tight sleeves while cooking so nothing dangles near a flame.
  5. Keep paper, towels, pot holders, wooden utensils and curtains away from the cooking area.
  6. Have one or more fire extinguishers handy and know how to use them.
  7. Keep stove tops clean; remove built up grease and spilled food.
  8. Never throw water on a grease fire – smother it with a pan lid instead.
  9. Keep children and pets out of the “kid-free” zone three feet from the stove.

10. Have a fire escape plan, and review and rehearse it often.

“The time to protect yourself against a range top fire is before it strikes.  By simply installing the Guardian, you can rest at ease and party safely.”  With the system, a fire can be extinguished in as little as seven seconds (video).

The Guardian is designed to detect and extinguish cooking fires and at the same timeprevents re-ignition. Once it detects heat at a pre-determined temperature, a signal is sent to release the extinguishing agent to suppress the fire and to shut off the gas or electric supply to the stove in order to prevent reigniting.  “Whether it is a single home or an apartment at risk, putting the fire out quickly is imperative to minimize damage and injury,” Rouse said.

For more information, contact GSSI at 800-786-2178 or visit www.guardianssi.com. Visit on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GuardianSSI and 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. GSSI manufactures the Guardian III Model G300B, UL and ULC listed with a fuel shut-off.

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Media Contact:  Susan Tellem, APR, RN, BSN

susan@tellemgrodypr.com

310 313-3444 x1

July 20, 2014 Comments (0) Press Releases

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