Fire - News

Holiday Safety Tips

The winter holidays and cooler temperatures are a time for getting together with family and friends and this means more cooking, home decorating and entertaining. The Glendale Fire Department reminds you to practice safe habits and to keep in mind the following tips to ensure the health and safety of loved ones during the holiday seasons.

 Whether you are cooking a turkey or ham for the holidays it is important to know that unattended cooking is the leading cause of fires and three out of ten home fires start in the kitchen. Decorating your home with candles can be hazardous as well. Candles are the second leading cause of home fires. The holiday season should be remembered as a joyous and happy time spent with friends and relatives. Other safety tips include:

• When cooking for holiday visitors be sure to keep an eye on the oven.
• Enforce a “kid-free zone” of three feet around cooking areas and turn handles inward away from the reach of small children
• Never pour water onto a grease fire and never discharge a fire extinguisher onto a pan fire, doing so will spread the fire.
• Take a moment to test your smoke detector before cooking.
• Discuss your escape plan with visitors in the event a fire breaks out.
• Never leave a candle burning unattended and when “you go out, blow out.”
• Keep candles clear of curtains, decorations and other combustibles.
• Inspect your fireplace, chimney and make sure the flue is open before lighting a fire.
• Never use grills indoors.
• Keep anything that will burn three feet away from space heaters.
• Learn or review CCC-CPR skills to aid someone who is choking or having a heart attack.

 

(Source: National Fire Protection Association)