18 Nov Risk of residential fire more than doubles on Thanksgiving
By Anita Byer, Setnor Byer Insurance & Risk
Did you know that the risk of a residential fire more than doubles on Thanksgiving Day? In fact, …
- The average number of residential fires is 2.3 times higher on Thanksgiving than all other days of the year.
- Cooking is the leading cause of all Thanksgiving fires (74 percent).
- More than half of all Thanksgiving fires (54 percent) occurred from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Most Thanksgiving fires (60 percent) happen in 1- and 2-family dwellings.
The good news is that it’s pretty easy to effectively reduce to risk of a Thanksgiving fire in your home. Here are ten tips from FEMA to help keep your family and friends safe this year.
- Stand by your pan. If you leave the kitchen, turn the burner off.
- Keep an eye on what you fry. Most cooking fires start when frying food.
- Roll up your sleeves. This reduces the chance that they’ll catch fire.
- Supervise children and pets. Make sure they stay away from the stove.
- Watch what you’re cooking. If you see smoke, or grease starts to boil, turn the burner off.
- If there’s an oven fire, keep the door closed. Turn off the oven and keep the door closed until it’s cool.
- Move things that can burn away from the stove. This includes dishtowels, bags, boxes, paper and curtains.
- Turn pot handles toward the back of the stove. This makes it harder to bump them or pull them over.
- Only use a turkey fryer outdoors. Place it on a sturdy surface, away from things that can burn.
- Check smoke alarms. Working smoke alarms should be close to where anyone may be sleeping.
FEMA also offers the following “recipe” for preventing turkey fryer fires.
Happy Thanksgiving!