Watch Out for Thanksgiving Kitchen Fires!

The kitchen is the heart of a home during the holidays and if your space is like mine, it’s full of people going in and out all day to help with cooking, spike their egg nog, or just sit and swap tall tales.

That frenzy of activity, cooking, and baking puts a kitchen at extra danger of kitchen fires, even if your cooking is on par with Mario Batali or Nigella Lawson. Thanksgiving Day is the leading day for home cooking fires, with three times as many occurring on Thanksgiving as any other day of the year, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

“Thanksgiving is the time of year families come together to celebrate and feast. The kitchen is the place where holiday traditions are shared and new ones are made,” said David Anderson, renters insurance expert from Protect Your Bubble. “As families get together, under one roof, the kitchen becomes the busiest room in the house. Unfortunately, it can also turn into the place where misfortunes happen.”

Take a moment to brush up on fire safety tips before your Thanksgiving cook-a-thon.

Fire safety tips

• Don’t wander off. Easier said than done, we know, especially if there are kids running amok or a football game on TV. So it might be a good idea to just always make sure there’s at least one person keeping an eye on the stovetop and oven.
• If it burns, keep it off the counter. Move your towels, potholders, recipe books, and last month’s HGTV Magazine OFF the counter and onto a nearby table.
• Keep kids and your four-legged children out of the way. Create a three-foot “safety zone” around the stove where children and pets aren’t allowed. This may take safety gates, helpful relatives, or professional goalies to accomplish, but do try.
• Work on back burners when possible and turn pot handles inward. If a child makes it into your safety zone, you want to be sure the little rascal won’t dump a hot pot on him or herself.
• Wear short sleeves or roll up them up. We know you look chic with those flowing sleeves, but it’s never fashionable to run screaming around the house with your arms on fire.
• Keep an oven mitt and lid on a nearby table. In case of grease fire, put on that oven mitt and smother the flames by sliding the lid over the pan. Turn off the burner and wait until the pan is cool before removing the lid. Dousing the fire in baking soda is another trick. NEVER use water or a fire extinguisher, as they can “splash” the fire out and spread it around your kitchen.
• Oven and microwave fires should be fought by professionals. Turn off the heat, unplug the microwave, make sure the appliance doors are shut, and get everyone out of the house. Call 9-1-1 from outside.
• After a long day of cooking, double-check the kitchen before bed or leaving. Is everything off? All the candles blown out?
• BONUS SAFETY TIP: Don’t fry your turkey! Seriously, folks. There’s not a single fryer on the market that’s recognized as safe by the NFPA, and fires associated with frying turkeys cost Americans $15 million a year.