Fire Prevention Week began on Sunday and runs through Oct. 12, and in honor of this, the Redmond Fire Department (RFD) is reminding local residents to prevent kitchen fires.

RFD has been awarded a Vision 20/20 grant through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program. This grant provides resources to install 2,500 smoke alarms, 15 hearing-impaired smoke alarms and perform 1,000 home safety visits for families located within the RFD response area.

According to the latest National Fire Protection 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.

“Often when we’re called to a fire that started in the kitchen, the residents tell us that they only left the kitchen for a few minutes,” said RFD Deputy Chief/Fire Marshal Todd Short. “Sadly, that’s all it takes for a dangerous fire to start. We hope that Fire Prevention Week will help us reach folks in the community before they’ve suffered a damaging lesson.”

Among the safety tips that firefighters and safety advocates will be emphasizing:

• Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling, broiling or boiling food.

• If you must leave the room, even for a short period of time, turn off the stove.

• When you are simmering, baking or roasting food, check it regularly, stay in the home and use a timer to remind you.

• If you have young children, use the stove’s back burners whenever possible. Keep children and pets at least three feet away from the stove.

• When you cook, wear clothing with tight-fitting sleeves.

• Keep potholders, oven mitts, wooden utensils, paper and plastic bags, towels and anything else that can burn away from your stovetop.

• Clean up food and grease from burners and stovetops.

Through this grant, RFD is able to provide educational home safety assessments, which consist of testing/installing smoke alarms, identifying potential fire/safety hazards, educating residents how to prevent cooking fires and helping them create an escape plan.

The smoke-alarm installations and safety visits are free to Redmond residents and are conducted by RFD personnel.

You may benefit from this service if you don’t have working smoke alarms in each sleeping area and on each level of your home, or if you would appreciate assistance in creating a fire-escape plan. This service will also identify potential fire-hazard risks in your home. The grant targets residents in multi-family buildings (apartments and condominiums) and single-family homes.

“Home fire safety assessments, regularly practiced fire drills and working smoke alarms are essential for your family’s safety,” said Short. “Let Redmond Fire personnel, through our grant, help keep you and your family safe by conducting our 20-30-minute home safety visit and check your smoke alarms.”

If you are interested in having RFD conduct an informational home safety visit, call (425) 556-2264 or email Kristen Thorstenson at kmthorstenson@redmond.gov. Assessments will be scheduled by appointment only.