Tips offered for safe cooking during holidays | Lifestyles - Overton County News

Holiday party planning begins now for many families, and Phillip Lee Craighead of Servpro is offering some reminders to area residents to help ensure this season glows with the warmth of good food and good friends, and not with the glare of a devastating home fire.

“The holiday season is a time when many families plan big and elaborate meals for large groups of people,” Craighead said. “But all that cooking creates an extraordinary risk of fire. For a safe and festive holiday season, it’s important to understand that risk and take steps to minimize it.”

Research from National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reveals that in 2017, on average, U.S. fire departments responded to a home fire every 88 seconds. Cooking equipment was the leading cause of home fires and fire injuries, causing 47% of home fires. These fires resulted in 20% of the home fire deaths and 45% of the injuries.

“According to the NFPA, Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, followed by the day before Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and Christmas Eve2,” Craighead said. “Families should also be aware that frying poses the greatest risk of fire, in fact, the NFPA discourages the use of outdoor gas-fueled turkey fryers that immerse the turkey in hot oil.”

Craighead offers the following additional cooking safety tips from FEMA’s U.S. Fire Administration:

1. Keep an eye on what you fry: If you see any smoke or the oil starts to boil, turn the burner off.

2. Stand by your pan: If you leave the kitchen, turn the burner off.

3. Turn pot handles toward the back of the stove so that no one can bump them or pull them over.

4. Wear short sleeves or pull sleeves up: 18% of cooking fire fatalities in 2016 were caused by ignited clothing.

5. Keep a pot lid or cookie sheet nearby to cover a pan if it catches on fire.

“Taking common sense precautions like these and keeping kids and pets out of the kitchen during meal prep can help keep your holiday celebrations safe,” Craighead said. “The precautions you take could help prevent a devastating home fire, a tragic injury, or even the loss of life. While Servpro disaster response professionals are fire damage restoration specialists, they know how important it is to keep the focus on fire prevention, because for some types of loss, there is no remediation.”

Servpro is a provider of fire and water cleanup and restoration services. For more fire prevention and fire safety tips and information about fire and water damage restoration services visit www.servpro.com. For more information contact Phillip Lee Craighead at Servpro of Cookeville/Carthage/Smithville/Woodbury by calling (931)528-9292 or emailing to lcraighead@servpro10351.com.

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