During the month of August, the Monmouth Fire Department responded to 94 calls of service. In the beginning of September, the department had a structure fire, as well as an oven fire. Fire Captain Craig Cozadd reminds listeners of the safety of storing items in what is to be a warming drawer under an oven:
“Most ovens have the oven itself and then underneath they have what people call a storage drawer, but it is actually a warming drawer. I don’t think people realize how hot that gets inside there. At this particular oven fire, we went to, there was a set of grilling tongs that had a wooden handle on them, it actually caught the handle of the grill tongs on fire. The big thing is, if you are going to turn the oven on, make sure obviously there is nothing in the oven itself, but also understand that the drawer underneath, it doesn’t stay at room temperature, that drawer is actually made to warm food in. It is not made for storage.”
Captain Cozadd says to be mindful and not store anything flammable under the oven as the drawer is not intended for storage.
