DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. — With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, many people are already in the kitchen preparing meals for family and friends. But firefighters want everyone to remember that cooking is the leading cause of house fires and injuries.
District Heights fire station 826 is busy every day, but they expect things to get even busier come Thursday.
“The holidays specifically, our call volume tends to increase,” Battalion Chief Prince George’s County Fire and EMS Department Eric Reith said. “Probably at least one a day in the county there’s some sort of cooking related incident on our alarms. As we get into the holiday season tomorrow I could see that expanding tenfold at least.”
Unattended cooking is the main problem. Reith said he's seen it all: fires on stove tops, in ovens and in those beloved fryers. So WUSA 9 decided to go over ways to prevent these fires from happening with Prince George’s County firefighters.
One of the biggest hazards that fire crews said they often respond to is when it comes to frying a turkey. Reith had a few suggestions on where not to attempt a deep fry.
“Not in the kitchen, not in the garage, not on the back deck where it’s wood," he cautioned. "But at a safe distance 25-30 feet away from the home."
Another tip, is to make sure your turkey is fully thawed and dried off before you put it in the fryer and don’t overfill the fryer with oil.
“Often people make the mistake of adding an excessive amount of oil, not accounting for the volume of the turkey," Reith said. "They add it to the fryer and the oil overflows and catches on fire."
Next, have a plan should there be a fire. One option is using a fire extinguisher, but make sure it's the correct way.
“The big thing to remember when they want to use that for a grease fire on the stove or something, they need to be a safe distance,” Reith said. “At least an arms distance away, if not two. If you get too close to it, the propellant coming out of it can splatter the grease and spread the fire.”
Reith shared options to put out a fire without an extinguisher.
“Another option in the kitchen if you don’t have a fire extinguisher, [is] a pot or a pan," he said. "If you have a lid you can simply slide the lid on quickly and let it suffocate the flames.”
The chief said another easy tool is small fire blankets, which are easier to use because you can just drape them over a flaming pot to suffocate the flames.
Another safety culprit this time of year are space heaters. Fire crews say never use a space heater to dry clothing and to keep them at least three feet from furniture. In general, keep anything that can burn at least three feet from any heat source and keep combustibles away from heat sources like fire places, wood stoves, radiators and space heaters. Keep your fireplace clean and safe, make sure you have a working smoke and carbon monoxide alarm in the residence and always keep portable generators outside, away from windows and as far as possible from the home.
It's always best to practice what to do in an emergency with your family, to be best prepared.
“Remember to be safe and if you need the fire department, if you need EMS, we’re just one call away,” Reith said.