Safety Tip: Fire Safety - Kitchen Fires

Are you ready? Are you completing regular property inspections? Is your property protected? Are your residents educated on fire safety? All of these are essential in fire prevention and protection of your property. Most people believe “fires can only happen to other people - not to me and not in my home”. Yet, over 80 percent of fire deaths occur in the home, most claiming the lives of the young, the elderly and the disadvantaged. You can make a difference…

In addition to cooking and careless smoking kids playing with matches or lighters is one of the main causes of fires in public housing. Misuse of extension cords, portable heaters and cooking appliances, as well as improper storage of flammable or combustible materials are all actual and potential causes of fires in the home. We can talk about these another day, but for now lets talk about how you can prevent fires from cooking as well as from kids playing with matches.

For prevention of kitchen fires your first line of defense is the installation of an automatic fire suppression system properly mounted in the vent hood over the cook stoves. However, if this is not feasible you should advise your residents to consider at least the following safety tips:

When cooking never leave food, especially grease unattended on the stove.
If a fire should start in a stove-top pad, cover it with a lid and turnoff the heat source.
Turn pot and pan handles inward so children won’t pull them down from the stove.
Keep a fire extinguisher near stove, one that can be use for grease or electrical fires.

With regard to kids playing with matches, EDUCATION is the KEY, and there are resources available to help you educate your folks…”A Lighter Is Not a Toy” is a video based program developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) for high-risk outreach groups with funding from the Lighter Association, Inc. The video is designed for an audience of parents and other caregivers, including teenaged babysitters, grandparents, child-care provides and teachers of children five and under. This program works.

The video “A Lighter is not a Toy” is the NFPA’s best video for helping parents realize the consequences associated with leaving smoking materials around children. I urge you to take advantage of this educational program

Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, Inc.

"The information contained in this report was obtained from sources which to the best of the writer's knowledge are authentic and reliable. Arthur J. Gallagher makes no guarantee or results, and assumes no liability in connection with either the information herein contained or the safety suggestions herein made. Moreover, it can not be assumed that every acceptable safety procedure is contained herein, or that abnormal or unusual circumstances may not warrant or require further or additional procedures."

Previous Safety Tips: March 2008, April 2008

Berwick Housing Authority
2751 Fifth Street
P.O. Box 231
Berwick, LA. 70342
(985) 385-1546 Office
(985) 385-5840 Fax