Fire prevention and cooking safety were the burning topics of interest for Nieuw Amersfort Community Association (NACA) members during National Fire Safety Month at their October 24th meeting, held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 3913 Avenue J.
“October is usually our Fire Safety Month, so I’ll give a little talk about that now,” NACA president Steve Yamin said.
He recommended purchasing A, B, and C rated metal top home fire extinguishers as only the metal ones are rechargeable. Plastic top extinguishers are only good for one use. An A rating is for things like wood, cloth, papers and trash; B is for chemicals, plastics, gas and oil, and C is for electrical equipment fires.
It’s important to check the gauge and date since they should be inspected, recharged or replaced every five years. Yamin recommended placement at the top of the stairs or at the entrance to the kitchen.
For kitchen safety, he advised keeping a lid near the frying pan when frying with oil. “There are three things that a fire needs: heat, oxygen and fuel,” he said. “Taking away the heat by turning off the stove and putting a lid on it cuts off the oxygen, letting it die down.”
He said to never pick up a pan with burning oil in it because you could spill it and burn yourself or spread the fire. Likewise, if a turkey catches fire in the oven, don’t try to take it out; just turn off the stove and let it burn out. Or, if you open the stove, cover it with a wet towel to put out the flames. If using a fire extinguisher, stand away and move toward the fire to maintain control.
“Never, ever, leave the pan with oil cooking on the stove,” Yamin said. “Turn off the stove, if you need to leave, but never leave it on and walk to the living room and make a phone call, etc.”
Likewise, don’t leave anything cooking on the stove unattended and always have something handy to put out the fire like a box of baking soda to smother the flames. Finally, always call the fire department, even if you put out the fire.
Other speakers were Auxiliary Police Inspector Jeff Zweig, who announced upcoming community events and spoke about auxiliary police training and recruitment, and Neighborhood Coordination Officers Paul Alva and Jonathon Perez. They talked about crime and quality of life issues with residents.
A new trend is how criminals are committing grand larceny of high-end vehicles. Thieves are using a device that copies the frequency from a key fob and repeats it back to the vehicle they are trying to steal to open the door and start the ignition.
Usually, it’s done as a team. One man will have a backpack with the machine and another man will use a wire to scan the doors. If a key fob is left in the car or nearby, the wire can pick up its frequency so never leave it in or near the car.
NACA meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month but will not be meeting in November or December because of the holidays. The next meeting will be held on January 23, 2024.
