You know that sound, the one that is an absolute annoyance? Though tempting to ignore, I learned last week that attention must be paid to a screeching fire alarm.
When I was a kids, the sound of the fire alarm on a Sunday morning meant that mom’s bacon was done. It would be my job to respond to it by standing on a chair and waving at the fire detector with a dish towel until it stopped.
Now, I live in a building with multiple units and my home shares a wall with my neighbors’ place. I heard their fire alarm going off and figured it would stop, that someone burned toast or something. It didn’t stop, though. And soon I heard panicky voices in the hall. They had a fire in their kitchen. Food had caught on fire and spread to the electrical element in the oven. It was still contained to the oven, but the oven door was open. They hadn’t yet called 911 and didn’t know what to do. I told them where the fire extinguisher was—in a central area on the lower level of our building. He ran to get it while she called 911 on my phone. I told them to close the oven door, and he did using a broom handle. This caused the fire to burn out, but all of us were more than a little rattled.
When you are cooking and baking at home, keep these safety precautions in mind.
Always avoid wearing loose clothing when you cook.
Tie your hair back when you cook.
Make sure to test your fire alarms.
Have a fire extinguisher handy and know how to use it.
Talk to kids about avoiding fire emergencies.
Use potholders instead of dishtowels for removing food from the oven.
For more great advice on fire prevention try these resources:
For kids
For everyone