Ready Set Grill — Safety tips for great grilling

SERVPRO cleanup and restoration specialists in the Summit area offer tips to homeowners for a sizzling and safe summer grilling season

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), July is the peak month for grilling fires, followed by June, May, and August.1 Annually, U.S. fire departments respond to an average of 10,200 home fires each year involving grills, hibachis, or barbeques. With the summer season fast approaching, SERVPRO® fire and water damage cleanup specialists in the Summit area urge homeowners to check the readiness of their outdoor cooking equipment like grills and propane tanks to help ensure summer cooking fires dont become house fires.

The NFPA reports that seven out of every 10 adults in the U.S. has a grill or a smoker, said Rick Isaacson, CEO of Servpro Industries, LLC. That statistic really highlights the risk that homeowners face of experiencing a home fire caused by grilling and other open flame cooking. Its important to take some basic safety steps to help ensure youll spend your summer enjoying friends and family and not dealing with the aftermath of a grill-related house fire.

Rows and rows of gas grills at suburban stores. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania

According to the NFPA, the top three causes of grilling fires are failure to clean the grill, leaks in gas hose lines or breaks in the grill body itself, and proximity to flammable objects. Isaacson says these risks are easily managed and offers the following tips2 from the NFPA to help Summit area residents prepare and use their outdoor grills:

General Grill Safety
1. Check your grill for cleanliness and damage. Remove grease or fat buildup from the grills and in trays below the grill before the first use and after each subsequent use.
2. Position your grill well away from your home and deck railings, and out from under eaves and overhanging tree branches
3. Keep children and pets at a safe distance at least three feet from the grill
4. Never leave the grill unattended when in use, and always grill outside.

Propane Grills
1. Check for leaks in the gas tank hose before using your grill.
2. Open gas grill top before lighting the grill.
3. If the flame goes out, turn the grill and gas off and wait at least five minutes before re-lighting it.

Charcoal Grills
1. Use only charcoal starter fluid or opt for a charcoal chimney or electric starter.
2. Never add charcoal starter fluid, or any flammable fluid, to the fire.
3. Dispose of coals in a metal container after the coals have cooled completely.

It doesnt take long to prepare your grill for safe cooking, but it can take months to recover from a fire and the resulting flame, smoke, and water damage, said Isaacson. Invest a few minutes now to get your outdoor cooking equipment clean and ready to go, and then spend your summer enjoying good times and great food, not dealing with the destruction and heartbreak of a house fire.

SERVPRO is an industry leader and provider of fire and water cleanup and restoration services. For more fire prevention and fire safety tips and information about fire and water damage restoration services, please visit www.servpro.com. For more information on SERVPRO® in the Summit area, please contact one of the local business owners below.

* For SERVPRO® of Hyde Park / E. Bridgeport / Bronzeville, please contact Patricia Zubricki who can be reached at [email protected].
* For SERVPRO® of Oak Lawn, please contact Cynthia Williams who can be reached at [email protected].

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About SERVPRO®
Founded in 1967, the SERVPRO Franchise System is a leader and provider of fire and water cleanup and restoration services and mold mitigation and remediation. SERVPROs professional services network of more than 1,700 individually owned and operated Franchises responds to property damage emergencies ranging from small individual disasters to multi-million dollar large-loss events. Providing coverage in the United States and Canada, the SERVPRO System has established relationships with major insurance companies and commercial clients, as well as individual homeowners.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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