As the holiday season picks up restaurants around the country are going to start seeing their traffic increase steadily. To help ensure that your restaurant runs smoothly you need to ensure your kitchen is bringing it’s A game. With all the craziness and hectic situations that will occur with the surge of traffic this holiday season it is important to practice good safety and cleaning habits to ensure nothing goes wrong in your kitchen, especially preventing kitchen fires.

There are several fire safety issues to look out for in your kitchen before the holiday season picks up. Ensure that your hoods, fans, vents, ceilings, and other work areas are being regularly cleaned. Grease build ups, dust, and more can lead to fires in the kitchen, so be sure to keep them at bay with regular cleaning. Check your grease filters for signs of build up and improper installation. If there is a blockage in your grease filter it may cause, there to be an increase of grease residue left over on your kitchen equipment and that puts you at risk for fire hazards. If you are cooking with grease you should be using a Type 1 Hood System. These types of systems are designed to pull grease, grease by-products, and other particles out of the air to help prevent build up and increase cleanliness in the kitchen space. If you are using an improper hood system set up you could think that your system is working properly, however it won’t be collecting the grease and other particles which could put your kitchen at risk of a fire.

There are several steps you can take to help prevent kitchen fires:

• Install Fire-Suppression System

Most commercial kitchen spaces are required by National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to be equipped with a UL300 fire-suppression system, which kicks into gear when a fire is detected. Once fire is detected the system will douse a fire-suppressant chemical onto the flames to put out the flames and protect your kitchen.

• Keep A Class K Fire Extinguisher On Hand

A Class K Fire Extinguisher is crucial for any kitchen – these type of fire extinguishers is designed for kitchen fires and putting out fires for high temperature burning substances such as grease, fats, and oils.

• Professional Exhaust Hood Cleaning

Before the busy holiday season picks up you should bring in a professional hood cleaning service to give your exhaust hood system an extensive professional cleaning. Even if you are cleaning your hood system yourself regularly you should still bring in a professional cleaning service every few months to make sure the whole system is cleaned properly.

Be sure to train your staff properly on cleaning the kitchen equipment, as well as fire safety protocols in case a fire does occur. The better trained your staff is with cleaning will help preventing the fires from occurring in the first place, but ensuring they follow proper safety protocols in the event of a fire is also just as important.

Good luck this holiday season with all your restaurant endeavors!

HoodMart provides our customers with a wide range of exhaust hood systems - from Compensating (Short Cycle) to Perforated Supply Plenum PSP - as well as all exhaust hood accessories such as no weld Grease Duct, hood filters, canopy hood lights, and curbs. If you still have questions regarding the purchase of your hood system, please feel free to contact one of our experts today by calling us at 1.800.715.1014 or by contacting us through our live chat system.