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Stove Fires

Winter Home Safety Guide

It is common knowledge that the winter months bring more risk for house fires. The combination of holiday decorations, heating systems, and indoor cooking all contribute to the fact that you and your family are more likely to suffer from a house fire during these cold months. Take some time to prepare your home, gain knowledge on fire safety, and stay vigilant against fire risks to help protect you and your loved ones. These simple tips, which you can use all year round, will help you reduce the danger of fires in your home this winter!

Preparing for Winter

You can practice making your home safer in preparation for the winter months throughout the year. If you’re a new or first-time homeowner, you should be aware of safety precautions you can take that you may never have thought of when living in an apartment or with your family. However, even if you’ve owned your home for years, you may not realize the importance of insurance, a home warranty, or just gaining and sharing knowledge on fire safety.

  1. Homeowners insurance is an extremely important investment in terms of protecting your home from a fire. Insurance will protect the structure of your home, personal belongings, and any additional cost of living if you have to leave your house because of natural disaster damage. It’s especially important to equip your home with insurance if you live in an area with winter storms, as these can also increase the likelihood of a fire due to the extreme cold and wind.
  2. Another type of home protection, which is often overlooked, is home warranty plans. The facts of home warranty policies make it hard to ignore that they are a vital investment for new homeowners. Home warranty contracts allow you to ensure that your major appliances, like your furnace, are serviced regularly and covered by this plan should they stop working.
  3. Never underestimate the power of doing research on home fires and sharing fire safety information with your family. If your home is already protected by insurance and a home warranty policy, then take time to make fire safety plans for your family. Inform your family about the best ways to suppress a fire and make sure everyone knows where your fire extinguisher, StoveTop FireStop product, and smoke detectors are located around the house.

This type of fire readiness can be practiced all year, so don’t wait until winter to find an insurance and home warranty plan that works best for you. Plus, the sooner you have a fire safety plan for your family, the better. These types of plans take knowledge and practice, especially for kids, so it’s never too late to start! These three tips will give you peace of mind to know that you’re taking every precaution ahead of this winter to keep your family safe.

Staying vigilant this winter

Now that you have your home prepared for the risk of fire, let’s cover the ways you and your family can stay vigilant during these cold months when fires are most common. As we know, there is good reason fires are more common this time of year; the combination of heating, cooking indoors, decorations, and storms pose a potential danger to your family and your home.

Firstly, ensure your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working and have new batteries in them to last you through the winter. Testing a detector is easy, simply press the “Test” button on your system! If the beep is so quiet that you don’t think it would wake you up in the night, replace the batteries and see if it gets louder. If it remains weak, then consider buying a new system. It’s just as important to also test your carbon monoxide detectors this winter because indoor heating and cooking systems release this odorless, colorless and deadly gas.

Equipping your home with fire safety gear, as mentioned above, is critical to stopping a fire more quickly. Our products for your rangehood can stop a stove fire at the source, even if no one is in the kitchen to witness the fire starting! Additionally, keeping a fire extinguisher where it’s closely accessible on every floor of your home is ideal. Most commonly, fire extinguishers are kept in open areas near exits and in the kitchen.

Finally, being vigilant includes knowing how to prevent winter fires around the house. Never leave candles unattended near anything flammable, such as curtains or table cloths, and always blow them out before you leave the house. Especially in winter, when you more likely have an array of beautiful, but flammable, decorative items around. If your family uses a space heater, it’s very important to know the safety usage of your product. It’s best practice to have a 3-foot area around your space heater that’s clear of any other items and to always turn it off before going to sleep. Additionally, never use extension cords for a space heater or any type of heating or cooling system to avoid electrical fires.

Home fires are a devastating truth for thousands of families all over the U.S. every year but, as you know, there are simple ways to protect yours! Knowledge of fire safety in your kitchen, investing in home protection, and sharing a safety plan with your family are all great practices to reduce the risk of a fire in your home.

Cooking in the Time of Coronavirus

Until late March of this year, eating out was a way of life for many people. In fact, the average American was eating out 5.9 times a week; that included everything from a quick lunch from the nearest drive-thru to a more leisurely meal at an elegant restaurant. But, at least for the time being, the days of frequenting restaurants for most meals is in the rearview mirror. As most Americans are forced to stay home during the pandemic, they’re changing routines — and that includes cooking at home more often.

While this time offers a great opportunity for people to sharpen their cooking skills, it also is causing an uptick in a deadly trend: People are accidentally setting their kitchens on fire at a rather alarming pace. Fire departments in Virginia, California, Florida, New York, Maryland and Michigan are among those that have reported more house fires. And, more specifically, kitchen fires.

The problem is significant enough that it prompted the National Fire Protection Association to ask people to exercise more caution in the kitchen.

“As many households are now dealing with unusual routines and out-of-the-ordinary circumstances, such as kids home from school and parents working from home, there’s greater potential for distracted cooking,” says Lorraine Carli, vice president of outreach and advocacy at NFPA. Cooking is already recognized as the leading cause of home fires, accounting for nearly half of all home fires. Among cooking fires, unattended or distracted cooking is the biggest threat.

At a time when social distancing is recommended, if not mandated, a single kitchen fire could prove disastrous for tenants and building managers alike. As one fire marshal pointed out in an article on Vice.com, “This is not the time to have a fire in your home. Where are you going to go?”

Providing tenants with some basic cooking safety tips and reminding them of specific dangers in the kitchen could go a long way toward keeping everyone in your building safe during the coronavirus lockdown.

Cooking Safety Tips for Beginners

Some tenants may know very little about cooking, particularly if it’s their first time to live on their own. Start by giving basic tips for keeping the kitchen safe, which include:

  • Don’t store anything in the oven. It may seem like a great out-of-the-way place to store a loaf of bread or extra hot pads and kitchen towels, but if someone forgets (or doesn’t know) they’re in there, and turns the oven on, it could cause a fire.
  • Keep pets and kids out of the kitchen when cooking. Not only can they be a huge distraction, but they can also cause accidents that can lead to burns and fires. The NFPA recommends keeping kids and pets at least three feet away from an active stove.
  • Make sure flammable items are far away from the stovetop. Having that roll of paper towels next to the stove sure is handy for spills — and it’s also a quick way to ignite a kitchen. Other things to watch out for include oven mitts, curtains, wooden utensils and hand towels. If it can ignite, get it away from the stove.

Teaching Tenants About Cooking Safety

In addition to ensuring their kitchens are set up for safe cooking, tenants need to understand the basic features of their cooking appliances. For example, if you have gas stoves in your units, don’t assume that everyone is familiar with how to cook with gas or how to set the proper flame. Although the NFPA reports that electric stoves are 2.5 times more likely than gas stoves to have a fire, gas stoves can be dangerous if a pilot doesn’t light and the gas is left on, even for a second or two.

Make sure that the dials are readable, that there aren’t any leaks or worn parts on gas stoves and that tenants know how to operate their equipment. Then, provide safe cooking suggestions including:

  • Never cook while drowsy or under the influence of alcohol.
  • Do not leave an active stovetop unattended, not even for “just a minute.” This is one of the main causes of cooking fires, and it can happen in a matter of seconds.
  • Clean all grease splatters and drips out of your oven immediately, as these can catch fire the next time the oven is ignited.
  • Pay special attention to grease, oils and fats when cooking. The hotter they get, the more dangerous they are, and they’re a leading cause of stovetop fires.
  • Don’t wear loose-fitting clothing when cooking, as it can catch on fire. (The same goes for long hair; make sure it’s tied back.) Although this happens in less than 1% of cooking fires, it is particularly dangerous and accounts for 14% of home cooking fire deaths.

How to Handle Cooking Fires

Finally, tenants need to know what they should do if a cooking fire occurs. Of course, every unit should have multiple smoke detectors, and every kitchen should have a fire extinguisher.

It’s also a great idea to educate residents on the best way to react to a stovetop fire. Advise tenants to always cook with the lid of the pan they are using nearby. If there’s a fire in the pan, an effective way to put it out is to cover the pan, which cuts off oxygen to the flame. There are things they shouldn’t do, too, such as pouring water on the flame or trying to move the flaming pot to the sink or outside.

The problem with these solutions is that they depend on an individual being present, alert and calm. They must know how to properly use a fire extinguisher and also must know when the fire is too big for them to use an extinguisher.

A better way to suppress a fire on the stove is to use a product from StoveTop FireStop.When mounted above a stove, the canister will automatically activate when there is direct, sustained contact from a flame with the fuse on the bottom of the canister. As soon as that happens, the canister releases a fine, dry powder over the flames that safely suppresses the fire. As it activates, the canister makes a loud “pop” sound to alert your tenant. Immediately after activation, when it is safe, he or she can shut off the stove’s burner to keep the fire from reigniting. For more product information see StoveTopFireStop.com.

The last thing tenants — and landlords — need to deal with right now is a cooking fire, but unfortunately, they are increasingly common with more people cooking at home. A little education and taking the proper precautions can ensure that your building and all of its residents stay safe.

How to Put Out a Grease Fire

While cooking with grease can enhance the flavor of your food, it also can increase the risk of a kitchen fire. In fact, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) notes that cooking fires are the No. 1 cause of fires and fire injuries in the home. According to a recent NFPA report, there are an average of 471 home cooking fires reported every day in the U.S., and that results in 530 deaths, 5,270 injuries and property damage of about $1.1 billion every year. 

To prevent grease fires, it’s important to know how they occur. For starters, leaving an active burner unattended can spell immediate danger. Stepping away from the frying pan, even “for just a minute,” could be all it takes for the grease to get hot enough to start smoking. Within moments, that grease can burst into flames.

Knowing the proper steps of how to put out a grease fire is key to avoiding injury and serious property damage for you and your neighbors. It’s particularly important to know stovetop safety if you live in a multifamily complex, such as senior-living townhomes or apartments: Cooks age 65 and older face a higher risk of fatalities from cooking fires than any other age group, the NFPA reports.  Continue Reading

What Happens When You Pour Water on a Grease Fire?

Pouring water on a grease fire is unsafe.Knowing how to handle fires in the home is important for every homeowner or tenant. But with so many fires still causing damage, injury and death every year, it’s apparent that more education and better tools are needed to save lives and property.

Learning how to manage different types of fires, such as knowing what to do in case of a grease fire, could make the difference between life and death. Pouring water on a grease fire may seem like the right thing to do or could even be a natural reaction to seeing flames, but it actually makes the situation much more dangerous.

Residential fires have declined slightly over the past decade, due in part to more advanced detection systems. But that hasn’t eliminated the threat; kitchen fires are responsible for an average of 172,000 fires every year and they often turn deadly, causing on average more than 500 deaths, 5,270 fire-related injuries and a staggering $1.1 billion in property damage annually. Continue Reading

How to Put Out a Stove Fire

Every day, millions of people cook a meal without giving it a second thought. But much like getting behind the wheel of a car, each time they fire up a burner or turn on the oven, they’re putting themselves at risk — even though it’s something they’ve probably done countless times.

Although dangers like overloaded electrical outlets or cigarettes are often considered the usual suspects when it comes to home fires, cooking fires are actually the leading cause of fires and fire injuries in homes and apartments. 

These fires are responsible for nearly half of home fires and accounted for 21% of home fire deaths and 45% of all home fire injuries from 2012 to 2016. Knowing how to put out a stovetop fire is something that every person needs to learn and take seriously, because lives truly depend on it.

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