TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Memorial Day is the second most popular grilling holiday, after the Fourth of July. It’s expected that over 57% of Americans will fire up their grills.
One of the most common and dangerous misconceptions is that a dirty grill is a seasoned grill.
“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, never clean the grill, you build up all that extra seasoning,'” said Nick Parsons, vice president of marketing and operations for Hasty Bake Charcoal Grills. “All it is is carbonization that will eventually catch fire. Whether it be propane or charcoal or anything, got to start with clean grill, you got to make sure that all that grease is scraped out of the inside. You don’t have any buildup on your grates because that’s the first thing that’s going to start a fire, to start burning.”
Another common mistake is marinades.
“Sometimes we will marinate it in sauce and throw it on the fire, and the problem is sauces have a lot of sugar in it and that sugar tends to burn,” Parsons said. “So, a lot of times when you, you know, put sauce on that chicken and, my dad did this grown up, and I thought all the chicken tasted like this. He’d marinate it in barbecue sauce, throw it on a hot grill, all that sauce have burned and they said, ‘Oh, it’s char.’ It’s not char it’s burnt sugar, it’s burned sauce. “
Addressing these common mistakes can help prevent a cooking fire.
Tulsa Fire Department says cooking fires are one of the leading causes of fire throughout the year and, as weather warms up and people utilize their outdoor charcoal systems, firefighters say they do respond to more fires.
“Once you’re done cooking, the danger doesn’t go away,” said Andrew Little with the Tulsa Fire Department. “You know, and if it’s a windy day, those embers could blow out, they could catch dry vegetation on fire and then could potentially catch your home on fire. It can happen many hours after utilized and it’s not something you’re often thinking about. Not a bad idea to maybe spray it off a little bit and then come back and check on it. Make sure you know 30 minutes later, an hour later, that that is out.”
TFD says it’s critical to properly dispose of cooking materials, so the charcoal will stay inside the grill rather than inside your home.
“If you can take it out and put it into a trashcan and close that thing off and deprive it of oxygen, so it goes out real quick,” Parsons said. “Those are all really, really important things to make sure that you don’t have a really cool afternoon party, all your friends over, into burning house.”
Where you place your grill is just as important.
“It’s flammable, so don’t put it up against the side of the house,” Parsons said. “Don’t have it sitting on a wood deck with charcoal.”
According to FEMA, grill fires on residential properties result in an estimated average of 10 deaths, 100 injuries, and $37 million in property loss each year.
To avoid an accident, TFD wants to remind Oklahomans to be responsible, safe and attentive this Memorial Day.
