Quick tips to help avoid cooking fires this holiday season

CINCINNATI — November 20, 2013 – The holiday season is fast approaching — which typically means gathering with family, friends, and lots of food. According to the National Fire Prevention Association, Thanksgiving has an average of three times more residential structure fires involving cooking equipment. Don’t be a “turkey” this Thanksgiving — be prepared to respond should a fire emergency occur.

“Being in the fire safety business, we feel our responsibility goes beyond the businesses we serve.” said Tommy Thompson, Vice President, Cintas Fire Protection. “Our hope is that these tips on avoiding cooking fires will help make sure a time of celebration does not become a tragedy.”

Follow these simple tips to avoid cooking fires and combat them should you face one.

Pay attention while you cook. Cooking fires can start in mere seconds, so it is important to remain focused on the task at hand when preparing holiday meals. Stay in the kitchen while you cook. If you need to leave for any reason, turn the stove off. Set timers so you don’t forget that you are cooking.

Keep flammable objects away from the heat source. Do not put oven mitts, aprons, paper towels, or other items that could catch fire near open flames or hot surfaces. Avoid wearing loose-fitting clothing that could dangle into contact with the heat source and ignite.

Remove the heat source and contain the fire. If a small fire does occur and you can safely contain it, simply put a lid on the pan and turn off the heat source. Do not attempt to remove a burning pan from your home — you could spread the fire through your home or severely burn yourself. Wait until the pan has completely cooled before attempting to remove it. If you have an oven fire, turn the oven off and keep the door closed.

If available, use a dry chemical fire extinguisher. Do not attempt to put water on a grease fire or use a water-based extinguisher — you will make the fire worse. If you attempt to fight the fire yourself, be sure that other occupants are evacuating your home and that you have a clear path of escape should you fail to extinguish the fire.

Exit your home and call 911. If you have any doubt that you can effectively extinguish the fire on your own, exit your home and alert the fire department.

For more information on Cintas’ fire protection services for businesses, please visit https://www.cintas.com/Fire.

About Cintas Corporation:
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas Corporation provides highly specialized services to businesses of all types primarily throughout North America. Cintas designs, manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs, and provides entrance mats, restroom cleaning and supplies, tile and carpet cleaning, promotional products, first aid, safety, fire protection products and services and document management services for more than 1 million businesses. Cintas is a publicly held company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTAS and is a component of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.