Local Firefighters Educate Students During National Fire Prevention Week

This is National Fire Prevention Week and in Lavonia, members of the Lavonia Volunteer Fire Department are going to local schools to educate children on fire prevention and fire safety at home.

This year’s theme is, “Prevent Kitchen Fires.”

According to Lavonia Fire Chief Robert White, kitchen fires are the most common source of house fires.

“Most of them is where somebody has started cooking something on the stove and forgotten about it, or they let it get too hot,”White said. “They get sidetracked with something else and the next thing you know a fire has started on the stove.”

According to the latest National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) research, cooking is the leading cause of home fires.

Two of every five home fires begin in the kitchen—more than any other place in the home.  Cooking fires are also the leading cause of home fire-related injuries

White said it’s important when you are cooking to stay in the kitchen – especially when frying, grilling, broiling or boiling food on the stove.  And White said if you have young children, make sure they stay well away from the stove.

“Remember the old adage, always turn your pot handles inside, don’t let children play near the stove,” he said. “A lot of the new stoves are the ceramic flat top stoves and they got hot quickly. Then when you turn them off,  you can’t always tell they’re completely off and if you set something on top they are liable to catch fire.”

Children and pets should be kept at least three feet away from the stove when you’re cooking.

Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner Ralph Hudgens says each year roughly 100 people die as a result of home fires and burns in Georgia,.

So far this year, 13 Georgians have died as a result of unattended cooking fires.