If you’re hosting a Thanksgiving gathering in your home this year, you have a long list of to-dos to take care of — but no matter how busy you get, safety should be your first priority. To help make sure that happens, here are some Thanksgiving safety tips from our Bakersfield home security company.
Be preventative about cooking fires.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reports that Thanksgiving Day is the number one day of the year for home cooking fires; in addition, cooking is the leading cause of home fires in the United States. Tragically, most of those cooking fires are due to unattended cooking. To prevent this from happening at your home this Thanksgiving, stay in the kitchen while your entire meal is cooking, from your turkey to your pies. If you are frying a turkey this year, only do so outside, using the manufacturer’s directions on your turkey fryer. Thaw the bird completely before lowering it into the fire, because immersing a frozen turkey in hot oil can turn the turkey into a fireball in seconds.
Be proactive about other fire risks.
While cooking is the leading cause of Thanksgiving fires, there are other fire risks that tend to spike on the holiday. Many times, Thanksgiving is the first day of the year to heat up the home by putting a wood log in the fireplace or wood burning stove. If that is the case at your home, stay in the room until the fire has completely gone out. Do not allow children to light the fire or be near it; the NFPA says that kids and pets should be at least three feet away from the fireplace at all times. Candles are another leading cause of holiday fires;
whether you are burning taper candles on the dinner table or pumpkin scented candles on a coffee table, never leave lit candles unattended.
Be prepared with smoke detection.
It may be tempting to disable your nearest smoke alarm while cooking your Thanksgiving dinner, but don’t do it. Disabling your smoke alarm while cooking is a major risk to your home and loved ones. In fact, Cal Fire reports that more than 40% of deaths in residential fires happen in homes without working smoke alarms. You want all the smoke alarms in your home to be working — and by staying in the kitchen until everything is done, you can pull anything out of the oven the moment your detector sounds. For more comprehensive fire protection this holiday season, ask Secure Systems about smoke detectors that communicate with your home security system to provide you with both a life safety system and a property safety system. Your family deserves the most protection possible.
Our Bakersfield security company wants you to enjoy the safest Thanksgiving yet this year. To discuss smoke detection and other home security, contact Secure Systems now.
About Secure Systems
Secure Systems is a Bakersfield alarm company that installs alarms for homes and businesses. We also install residential camera systems and business camera systems, commercial and residential fire alarm systems, wireless monitoring, remote access alarm systems, access control and door buzzers in Bakersfield and Kern County. Call us today at (661) 220-5354.
