As families may be spending more time at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of teaching fire safety is even more relevant during National Fire Prevention Week.

This year’s theme is “Serve Up Safety in the Kitchen,” as cooking is the number one cause of home fires and home fire injuries, according to the National Fire Prevention Association. Stuart Fire Chief Josh Renslow shares some simple ways to prevent these emergencies, “Basically, just keep your stove tops cleared off, don’t put any water on grease fires, make sure you check your smoke detector. We always tell parents, adults, kids, a good time to do that would be on daylight saving time change weekends, you have that twice a year, you change your batteries twice a year, just a good, helpful reminder there.”

The Stuart Fire Department is not hosting as many activities this week as typical because of COVID-19, including the cancellation of their annual french toast supper, so Renslow urges parents and adults to teach children about fire escape routes at home and other ways to safely respond to fires.