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Home Kitchen Fire Safety Advice
Whether you have just bought a new home or just feel like a change, the kitchen is at the top of the list when it comes to renovating parts of a household. It is the single most important room in the house from a buyer's perspective and as such most people spend a lot of money making sure that they have a beautiful kitchen. By the time you've plastered walls, tiled, fitted new worktops as well as adding a host of the latest gadgets such as espresso makers and pizza ovens you can easily have spent in excess of £10,000 in the blink of an eye. You are proud of your new kitchen and rightly so. But did you know that nearly two thirds of all domestic fires start because of something to do with cooking, yet a few simple precautions could easily help to prevent this. You have cut your cheque for thousands of pounds but in 99% of cases people have given no consideration to fire safety. So why not pull out your wallet and spend another £50 to make the kitchen a safer place. If you have a young family I would imagine that you have already spent some money to put cupboard and fridge locks on to make it safer young children. It's common knowledge that smoke alarms fitted in the home are a major contributing factor to saving lives. You are more than twice as likely to die in a fire at home if you haven't got a smoke alarm fitted according to UK Governments statistics. That's a figure that should not be ignored. Smoke alarms are cheap and easily fitted. The correct alarm for the kitchen is a heat detector. Optical and Ionisation smoke detectors are not suited for kitchen use as everyday kitchen activity will cause them to go off and no one needs a false alarm every time they make a cup of tea. A heat alarm works by detecting heat rather than smoke and so is perfectly designed for kitchen use. They contain two metal strips that when they reach a certain temperature bend and form a contact inside the alarm, setting it off. Battery as well as mains wired models are available and should be fitted as standard in all kitchens. For any rooms adjacent to a kitchen fit an optical smoke alarm as these will not be accidently set off by smoke from everyday cooking. Now you have the alarm fitted you should also consider what else you could install in order to protect your family and home. Well a fire extinguisher is a cheap and easily fitted item that all kitchens should have. For the home a powder fire extinguisher is a good choice due to the fact that it can be used to tackle class A, B, C and electrical fires. Powder fire extinguishers come in various sizes starting from 0.6kg. We would normally recommend a 2kg model for the increased fire rating it has, but smaller models are fine dependant upon room space. A fire rating on an extinguisher is the measure of the size of fire it can tackle. The higher the rating, the larger the fire it can be used on. The 2kg model should be proficient for any home kitchen fire and it is still a very compact model. If space allows, then a 1kg or 2kg CO2 fire extinguisher put alongside the powder model is recommended as it can be safely used on Class B and electrical hazards without damaging the electrical goods. Don't be put off by the fact that a powder extinguisher causes a mess, it's nothing compared to the mess caused by a fire or the loss of your home. Do not use the fire extinguisher on a chip pan fire or any other involving cooking oils and fats. The only extinguisher that is safe and specifically designed for this is the wet chemical extinguisher. Use a fire blanket instead. The exhaust pressure from a fire extinguisher can cause the oil to spray and spread the fire. Ensure that the gas supply is turned off when tackling a fire on the hob or oven as you do not want to run the risk of an explosion. An item often overlooked is the humble fire blanket. This is a cheap and easily fitted item that should be part of any fire safety plan. They come in a range of sizes from 1m x 1m to 18m x 1.75m and can be bought in either red or white containers. White is quite popular for home kitchens as it often fits in with most designs. They are available in different containers such as flat pack, pod or clam. They are simple to use and if you have a fire involving a chip pan for example it can be deployed in seconds to put the fire out. It really is that simple to protect your kitchen. A heat detector, a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket. Do not tackle any fire that you are not confident of dealing with. If in doubt, get out and call the fire brigade immediately. The safety of your family and yourself should always take precedence over your possessions. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com You can find out about Fire Extinguishers and other fire safety measures at www.a2zfire.co.uk |
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