Speaker 1:
Kitchen and cooking fires the most common, damaging and deadly for home. Sabrina Rodriguez has ways to keep your home safe, including something called The StoveTop FireStop.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
Life-
Kevin Summers:
It’ll pop here in a second.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
Can change in an instant.
Theresa Parker:
It happens so fast.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
And no one knows that better than Theresa Parker.
Theresa Parker:
This was actually on fire.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
It happened October 24th. Theresa remembers the date.
Theresa Parker:
It was my son’s birthday. I was frying tortillas to make chicken enchiladas for his birthday.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
She then went next door to invite her neighbor to dinner, gone just a few moments, but when she came back-
Theresa Parker:
The pan was here. All of this was on fire.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
She knows better than to put water on a grease fire and to remove the heat source, but that’s where she made a classic mistake.
Kevin Summers:
People will actually try to carry the pan.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
Kevin Summers is with Sac Metro Fire.
Kevin Summers:
That liquid, it’s going to slosh onto your home and potentially onto you.
Theresa Parker:
And when I went like this, the oil went like this on me and it caught on fire.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
But even after getting the pan to the sink, she thought was dry.
Theresa Parker:
It kind of exploded.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
This is what happens when just a cup of water is added to an inch of lit oil. This camera was on the ceiling, 10 feet away from the pan. Sac Metro Fire set up this demonstration to show how to handle a grease fire. First, have a tight fitting lid and an oven mitt handy.
Kevin Summers:
You Walk up, deflecting the flame away from me. Gently lay the lid right on top.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
Seems simple, but so many people don’t do that.
Theresa Parker:
I’ve never had a fire.
Kevin Summers:
If you’re not prepared for something, you’re going to panic.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
But it doesn’t have to get to that point. Kitchen fires are preventative.
Kevin Summers:
The little bit of smoke that’s been generated, your smoke detector is going off already. And you could deal with this before it became a major disaster.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
We know the benefits of smoke detectors, but there’s another device that could be even more valuable, it’s called the stove top fire stop, and it’s like having a fire man in a can. Watch what happens when the flames reached the fire stops wick. It’s about $50 for two cans, a good deal that made sense for Vanessa Guera.
Vanessa Guera:
Safety and protection for our residents is the highest priority.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
She’s the project manager at Mutual Housing at the Highlands and made sure fire stops were installed in every unit.
Speaker 7:
I think it’s pretty cool.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
And can save thousands in fire damage.
Theresa Parker:
This is melted. This is melted. Under here. The whole top of this was burned.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
It’s not certain if the fire stop would have made a difference for Teresa, who still has the pan that caught fire.
Theresa Parker:
Supposed to be this color.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
But we have to point something out, Theresa was nervous about sharing her story.
Theresa Parker:
I didn’t know what to do.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
But realized her experience.
Theresa Parker:
The whole top of my foot is burnt.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
And scars-
Theresa Parker:
It’s healing good.
Sabrina Rodriguez:
Are a lesson to share because she’s here to share it.
Theresa Parker:
I feel tremendously lucky. It could have been a lot worse.
Speaker 1:
All of that’s especially important to know because Thanksgiving is coming up and the National Fire Protection Association says Thanksgiving is the leading day for cooking fires, with three times as many cooking fires as an average day.
Speaker 8:
All right, next stop Mexico.
