Red Cross Offers 'Top Ten' Fire Safety Tips as Thanksgiving Nears
Monday, November 22, 2010
For Immediate Release
TUCSON, November 22, 2010 — With Thanksgiving just around the
corner, the American Red Cross Southern Arizona Chapter encourages families to prevent
kitchen fires by taking some basic safety measures. In the U.S., Thanksgiving
is the peak day for cooking fires, 90 percent of which are caused by unattended
cooking.
“We
all think of Thanksgiving as a time for family, good food and football, but
it’s also prime time for cooking fires,” said Richard White, Executive Director
at the American Red Cross Southern Arizona Chapter. “Taking a few simple
precautions can help everyone have a safe and happy holiday.”
To
keep Thanksgiving fire-free, the public should follow these ten tips:
- Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling or
broiling food. If you leave the kitchen even for a short period of time, turn
off the stove.
- If you are simmering, baking, roasting, or boiling
food, check it regularly, remain in the home while food is cooking, and use a
timer to remind you that you’re cooking.
- Be alert. You won’t be alert if you are sleepy, have
taken medicine or drugs, or consumed alcohol that makes you drowsy.
- Keep anything that can catch fire—potholders, wooden
utensils, food wrappers, towels or curtains—away from your stove top.
- Make sure your sleeves are out of the way when
cooking. Wear tighter fitting clothing with shorter sleeves.
- Have a “kid-free zone” of at least 3 feet around the
stove and areas where hot food or drink is prepared or carried.
- Never hold a child while cooking, drinking or
carrying hot foods or liquids.
- Turn the handles of pots and pans on the stove inward
to avoid accidents.
- Keep pets off cooking surfaces and nearby countertops
to prevent them from knocking things onto the burner.
- Test your smoke alarms by pushing the test button.
Replace batteries at least once a year.
Year-round Safety
In
addition to preventing cooking fires, families can stay safe all year by
following these additional tips:
- Keep items that
can catch on fire at least three feet away from anything that gets hot, such as
space heaters.
- Never smoke in
bed.
- Talk to children
regularly about the dangers of fire, matches and lighters and keep them out of
reach.
- Turn portable
heaters off when you leave the room or go to sleep.
Smoke Alarms
- Install smoke
alarms on every level of your home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas.
Check monthly that smoke alarms are working properly by pushing the test
button.
- At least once a
year, replace the batteries in your smoke alarms; every 10 years, replace the
entire smoke alarm.
Make a Fire Escape Plan
- Make sure all
household members know two ways to escape from every room of your home.
- Decide where you
will meet outside in case of fire.
- Practice
escaping from your home at least twice a year and at different times of the
day. Practice waking up to smoke alarms, low crawling and meeting outside. Make
sure everyone knows how to call 9-1-1.
- Teach household
members to STOP, DROP and ROLL if their clothes should catch on fire.
For more information about fire safety and prevention, contact the American Red
Cross Southern Arizona Chapter at (520) 318-6740 or visit www.redcrossarizona.org.
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About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit http://www.redcrossarizona.org/ or join National's blog at http://blog.redcross.org/.
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