Memorial Day Grilling Safety Tips

WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s that time of year again. The flowers are blooming, and grills all over the golden triangle preparing to fire up.

Memorial day weekend if a fun time for family and friends but that fun can quickly turn into a nightmare if we aren’t careful.

“Anything can go wrong barbecuing. You can pour too much lighter fluid, you get too close, and you could have a small explosion. You can actually catch you’re self on fire,”said Dot’s BBQ Restaurant Owner Dorothy Floyd.

However, experts say there are safety precautions people can take to help avoid troubles like that, before the first burger hits the grill, this holiday weekend.

“You want to make sure that the charcoal that you’re using, you want to pour it in your grill in a round shape. Then you want to apply your lighter fluid. Some people apply a lot of fluid, you really don’t need that much probably about an ounce in a half of lighter fluid to get it started,”said Floyd.

Robert Hutto with the Louisville Fire Department says the Memorial Day holiday is meant to be enjoyed but it has to be done in a safe way.

“We want them to be safe in the process. With grilling especially if it’s bad weather you see people want to pull their grill on the porch or under the car port we do not want that. You need to have at least 15 feet between the grill and the structure. Because the heat is going to radiate in to the structure and we don’t want a fire from that,” said Hutto.

Floyd says in order to have a safe weekend you have to exercise extreme caution.

“You really need to wear tight clothing. You don’t want to wear loose clothing around the grill. here are things that people get carried away especially if you’ve been drinking, they get carried away around the grill,” said Floyd.

“If you have a fire extinguisher it’s a good idea to have one nearby and to properly trained in the use of the extinguisher but at the very minimum at least with charcoal it’s a good idea to have a spray bottle with water to douse the fire if need be,” said Hutto.

Also while grilling you want to keep children away and keep a phone handy to call for assistance.

Categories: Local News

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