Kitchen Fires Peak On Thanksgiving: Safety Tips From Ankeny FD

ANKENY, IA — The Ankeny Fire Department has a message for those who will be cooking at home on Thanksgiving: Don't be a statistic. Thanksgiving Day is the peak time for home fires, with 1,760 kitchen fires reported nationwide in 2015, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

The Ankeny Fire Department said cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires and home injuries, and most cooking fires in the home involve the stovetop. The department offers the following safety tips to make your Thanksgiving dinner plans memorable for all the right reasons by preventing kitchen fires:

• Have a “kid-free zone” of at least 3 feet around the stove and areas where hot food or drink is prepared or carried.
• Be alert. Don’t use the stove or stovetop if you are sleepy or tired.
• Stay in the kitchen while you are frying, grilling or broiling food. If you leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove. (Tha NFPA says unattended cooking is the leading cause of home fires at 43 percent in the past five years.)
• If you are simmering, baking, roasting or boiling food, check the items regularly and remain in the home while food is cooking. Use a timer to remind you that food is cooking.
• Keep anything that can catch fire — oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels or curtains — away from your stovetop.
• Make sure your smoke alarms are working. Test them by pushing the test button.

“At Thanksgiving, when people are cooking multiple dishes and entertaining guests, it’s easy to get distracted,” said Lorraine Carli, NFPA’s vice president of Outreach and Advocacy. “These distractions may prompt them to walk away from the kitchen or forget something is cooking on the stovetop or in the oven. These factors can all increase the likelihood of a cooking fire.”

Ankeny officials said if you have a small grease fire on the stovetop, you can smother the flames by sliding a lid over the pan and turning off the burner. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled. If you have a small fire in the oven, turn off the heat and keep the door closed.

If a small fire occurs in your kitchen and you have any doubt about your ability to suppress it, the Ankeny Fire Department recommends you leave the area immediately and call 911 from outside the home.

For more information concerning kitchen and cooking fires, contact Education Coordinator Karen Peters with the Ankeny Fire Department at 515-965-6478.

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