Thanksgiving is the one day of the year when the kitchen runs hot for eight straight hours, with a house full of people who are not watching the stove. Here is what to do before the guests arrive and while the meal is on. Who is watching the kitchen while everyone else is in the other room?
Keep the kitchen attended
Never leave the kitchen unattended while frying, grilling or boiling. If you have to step out, turn the burner off or put someone else in charge. Cooking oil and an unattended pan are the fastest route to a kitchen fire there is.
Give heat some space
Towels, paper products and decorations stay away from the stovetop and any other heat source. If you are burning candles for the table, they go on stable surfaces well back from anything that can catch, and flameless candles work just as well for atmosphere.
Test the alarms before the day
Test every smoke alarm, replace any flat battery, and confirm they are placed where they matter. Everyone in the house should know the escape routes and the meeting point outside, so that is one conversation and not a shouted one.
Ready the house for guests
Clear the clutter. Empty pathways and common areas so nobody trips carrying a platter. Check the heating. Fireplace and space heater both clean and working, and the chimney inspected, because this is the week people light the first fire of the season. Get ahead of the cold. Insulate pipes, check windows for drafts and make sure the heating system is running properly before the temperature drops.
Enjoy the day
Nobody wants to think about restoration over dinner, and with these done you will not have to. If something does happen, JP Maguire handles fire and water damage across Connecticut, 24 hours a day. Call 877-576-2484.
Where to go from here
If this is happening in your house right now, these are the pages Connecticut homeowners reach for, each one saying what the work involves and how to get a crew rolling: water damage restoration. Water extraction, drying, then the rebuild. fire damage restoration. Soot, smoke odour, and putting the rooms back. mold remediation. Finding it, containing it, and removing it properly. storm damage restoration. Wind damage, fallen trees, emergency tarping. burst pipe repair. Stopping the leak, then repairing what it reached. 24/7 emergency restoration. A person on the phone, any hour of the night.
Also from the blog: More on storm restoration.