Of all the rooms in your home, your kitchen is probably the most likely to be the source of a potentially deadly fire. That's why it's so important that you take steps to make your kitchen fire-safe. Here are some top tips on how to equip your kitchen with fire safety in mind.
Fit the right alarm
Although smoke alarms are a safety essential in other areas of the home, they are not terribly effective when used in the kitchen. This is because a sensitive smoke alarm will be very quickly activated by normal cooking smoke and steam. Obviously, you don't want full-scale alarm activation and family panic every time you boil an egg or burn the toast, so what's a more practical alternative?
Heat alarms are designed to activate when the temperature in the room reaches and exceeds 58°C. This is because a normal cooking temperature wouldn't reach such heights, and heat in excess of this is more likely to be generated by a fire. Heat alarms are available from DIY and home stores and from some appliance services firms.
Heat alarms are usually battery powered and will require replacement batteries from time to time. You'll need to test your heat alarm each week by pressing the test button on the unit, and watch out for the red light display that indicates a low battery.
Domestic fire extinguishers
In a kitchen environment, fires usually involve different sources and accelerants—for example, cooking fat, paper towels or burning electrics. For this reason, you'll need both a domestic water extinguisher and a CO2 extinguisher. The water extinguisher is suitable for tackling fires involving paper or cloth, whereas the CO2 unit should be used on electrical fires and blazes where fat or oil is the fuel.
You can obtain domestic models of both types of extinguisher from good DIY stores, together with wall mounting brackets. Remember that you will need to have your extinguishers serviced regularly by a fire equipment professional to make sure that they are still fit for use in the event of a fire.
Fire blanket
A fire blanket is essential for tackling small fires in deep fat fryers and frying pans. All you need to do in the event of a fire is to throw the blanket over the flames, thus cutting off the fire's oxygen supply and effectively killing it.
Fire blankets can be obtained from DIY stores and some garden centres.
In conclusion
Keeping your kitchen fire-safe is a simple task. Assemble a fire safety kit for your kitchen following the guidelines above and ask your local appliance services firm for more advice or contact a company like The Fire Protection Specialist Company Pty Ltd.
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