5 things teaches you how to help avoid one of the most dangerous things in your house – the kitchen fire…

5 Things you can do to cut the risk of a kitchen fire.

- Tend to your cooking. Don’t leave your stove unattended. In short – Pay Attention!

- Keep a potholder and a lid handy. Smother pan fires instead of using water to extinguish.

- For fires in the oven or microwave – close the door and keep it closed to starve the fire of oxygen. Unplug the appliance if it is electric.

- Keep a fire extinguisher handy. Get one that is rated for kitchen fires.

- It is not enough to keep an extinguisher handy, learn how to use it and know that it has a set lifespan. Know when yours expires and replace it as necessary.

Quick note about fire extinguishers. We have them, we keep them charged (hopefully) and heaven forbid the day comes we need to use them, we, ahhh – have never used one before so we aren't quite sure what we are doing.

I’m gonna tell you it’s well worth your money to buy an extra one or two, take it out in the backyard and practice once or twice with it. Let everyone in the whole family take a turn.

You will be better off in a real emergency if everyone knows exactly what to expect.