Grilling Safety and Fire Prevention

Grilling outdoors is a great way to spend time with friends and family throughout the summer, and a healthy way to prepare delicious food. However, it is important to practice grilling safety to prevent potential injuries, and avoid fire damage to your home and property. Here are some safety recommendations provided by the National Fire Protection Association to keep in mind as you grill with your family and friends this season.

Basic Grilling Recommendations

• Clean your grill regularly to avoid grease and fat accumulation.
• Grill in a place away from your home, porch railings, eaves, and tree branches that could catch fire.
• Grill in a space separate from children and animals.
• Remain with your grill when cooking food.
• Use propane and charcoal grills outdoors, and in open spaces only.

Grilling with Propane

• Check your hose connections between the propane tank and burners, and tighten any loose connections.
• Look for any leaks in your hose. To do so:
• Spray a small mixture of soap and water on the hose.
• Turn on the propane and check for bubbles of escaping gas on the hose.
• If you don’t see bubbles, the grill is okay to use.
• If bubbles appear, shut off the propane and inspect the connections; schedule a professional servicing for the grill before further use.
• Immediately contact the fire department if the leak continues.
• Shut off the propane and burners should you smell gas while grilling. If the gas stops leaking, schedule the grill for professional servicing before further use. If the leak continues, step away from the grill and immediately contact the fire department. Do not attempt to reposition the grill.

Grilling with Charcoal

• When using starter fluid, only use fluid made for charcoal, and never add flammable fluids of any kind to a fire.
• Store charcoal starter fluid away from children and anything that generates heat.
• Consider alternative charcoal starters, such as chimney starters that use newspaper for fuel, or electric charcoal starters which heat without fire.
• Allow coals to cool after grilling before discarding in a metal waste receptacle.

Should you experience fire damage in your home or office, depend on the experts at ServiceMaster of Florence to provide the highest quality in fire restoration services.