WELLINGTON COUNTY – Cooking is the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries in Canada so this year the national Fire Prevention Week theme is kitchen safety.
With the tag line “serve up fire safety in the kitchen” local fire departments are asking residents to look at their cooking practices and make safe choices.
“The leading cause of fires in kitchen is unattended cooking,” said Centre Wellington fire prevention office Christopher Paluch.
“It used to be being in the other room, watching the TV, that sort of thing but now studies are showing that people are getting distracted by their portable devices.
“People are on their cell phones, they’re on Facebook and Instagram and the next thing you know you’ve gone down that rabbit hole of looking at interesting things on Wikipedia and something’s on fire in the kitchen.”
Local fire departments are reminding Wellington County residents that it’s important to stay in the kitchen when frying, boiling, grilling or broiling food.
“If you’re doing something like simmering, baking, roasting you know you’ve got the turkey in the oven, the important thing is to stay home all day,” Paluch said.
“Don’t put the turkey in the oven and then go out to the park for a walk for hours and hours.
“You need to be checking on it regularly and stay in your home.”
Guelph-Eramosa fire prevention officer Mathew Williamson said a major source of kitchen fires is people cooking meat or other grease laden food and not knowing what to do when there’s a fire.
“You see people do things like throw water on a grease fire or use a portable extinguisher on a grease fire, both of which generally propagate a fire condition and cause it to grow,” he said.
“So we’re encouraging them to put a lid on it; keeping a lid nearby when you’re cooking.”
Firefighter Jessica Dean of the Township of Guelph-Eramosa Fire Department cooks safely in her fire fighting gear, left, and in regular clothes.
Paluch said the best thing to do is slide the lid over the pan, turn off the burner and leave the pan covered until it’s cool.
Both Paluch and Williamson also said it’s important to establish a “kid free” zone about a metre away from the stove and any other surface where hot food or beverages are prepared.
“So you don’t have children actively playing and wrestling around a stove where you might have a scalding type event occur,” Williamson said.
“It’s just a really good idea and it’s a good thing to get the kids used to because that’s where you know injuries can happen,” Paluch said.
In addition to keeping kids out of the kitchen the fire departments are also encouraging residents to keep the cooking area clear.
“We’re all guilty of it sometimes,” Paluch said. “You’re done with something on the counter and you’re doing your dinner prep and maybe something that might be possibly flammable gets a little too close to your cook top.
“Always keep a clean area when you’re cooking. Make sure there’s nothing flammable on top of or anywhere near your stove and don’t wear loose clothing.”
Paluch said the theme of this year’s Fire Prevention Week is kitchen safety because more people have been cooking and baking in their kitchens since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March.
“Province-wide we’ve seen an increase in kitchen fires since the start of the pandemic because people are in their houses, they’re cooking during the day more often,” Paluch said.
“But as well they’re trying to keep the kids busy, so they’re cooking during the day but they’re also trying to keep the kids occupied and that’s pulling them out of the kitchen and they’re not watching things in the kitchen like they normally would be.
“We have definitely seen a rise province-wide from kitchen fires.”
In addition to kitchen safety both fire prevention officers, as well as Mapleton Fire Chief Rick Richardson, said it’s imperative to have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms on all levels of a house.
“Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms provide us with so much time, extra time and advanced warning that we can get out of the house in the event of an emergency,” Paluch said.
However, Richardson said it’s not the best idea to put the smoke alarm right in the kitchen.
“When you put it inside, sometimes … a little bit of toast causes a little bit of smoke and so the smoke alarm goes off and usually somebody hits them with a towel or bag or something like that to knock the smoke away,” Richardson said. “And you usually end up hitting the smoke alarm down and they don’t replace it.”
He said it’s a good idea to locate the alarm in a room or hallway just off the kitchen.
Just having a smoke alarm isn’t enough. All fire officials also said it’s important to have a home escape plan with at least two different ways out of the house.
“It’s a good time to do that and test it and practice it when you’re not having a fire, you’re not having an emergency because when something happens, the same as when you’re in school, it’s just a drill and you automatically do it because you practice it,” Richardson said.
Williamson also pointed out that it’s important to tailor an escape plan to each individual family’s needs.
It will look different with young children in the house than an aging parent who has trouble walking or someone who has difficult hearing the smoke alarm themselves. He said it’s important to change and adapt that escape plan as the family dynamics change.
While both Paluch and Williamson said cooking fires were one of the most frequent call they get, Richardson said they are not common in Mapleton. In Mapleton barn fires occur more often.
Richardson said it’s important to inspect the electrical work to ensure it’s safe, while Paluch suggested ensuring the area is clean around the furnace or propane heaters.
“I know it’s hard in a farm setting but tidiness leads to safety so if everything is working exactly the way it should be and we’re keeping up on the same maintenance as we always do, it goes a long way to help keep things a lot safer in a farm setting,” Paluch said.
Another common fire hazard in houses in Wellington County and the province is careless smoking where someone doesn’t completely extinguish a cigarette, or they fall asleep with a cigarette in their hand.
“I’m going to say that drowsiness, what we’re seeing just as an observation, is like impairment, sometimes leads to those issues occurring so whether it’s impairment by alcohol or cannabis or what have you,” Williamson said.
“Those things definitely negatively influence both unattended cooking or kind of that dismissiveness around cooking and/or smoking safety.”
Both Guelph-Eramosa and Centre Wellington said they, as well as other fire departments around Wellington County, will most likely be offering Fire Prevention Week activities online this year as it’s not safe to bring people together due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Look at each individual fire department’s websites to see what information is available.
