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Show tTIMES Keep fire safety foremost for family holiday cooking November 19, 2009 PRACTICE BRINGS INTERVIEW SKILLS Turkey deep fryer usage banned on base BY ALAN PAY^E 775th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Inspector H ome fires kill more than 2,900 people in the United States every year and there are more than 200,000 people seen in emergency rooms for burn injuries. Cooking is the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries. Fire departments around the U.S. recently finished a successful fire prevention week campaign at the beginning of October. The theme this year was "Stay fire smart! Don't get burned." Team Hill fire officials would like to continue this success throughout the holiday season. Most families will spend a good portion of their holiday preparing those passed-down family recipes. There are a few safety precautions to think about while in the kitchen. Prior to the holidays, it is a good idea to clean the oven and the stove. The excess build up of grease can cause an unwanted fire. Never leave your cooking unattended. Tlirn your pot handles inward so they can't be bumped on accident and so children can't grab them. Watch your potholders and other combustibles so they don't get too close to your heat source. Be careful for hot steam when removing lids. Always have the proper fitting lid nearby, even if you don't plan on using the lid for cooking, in case of an accidental grease pan fire. If you have a grease fire, slide the lid over the pan to smother the fire and turn off your source of heat. Baking soda is safe to use on a grease fire, but never use any grain product such as flour. Also, never use water on a grease fire. If you have a fire in the oven, turn the oven off. The most common and best fire extinguisher to use is the combination ABC type. Know where it is located and how to use it. Any fire on the base, even an extinguished one, must be reported by calling 911. Another family holiday tradition is deep-fried turkey. There are common mistakes made while attempting this feat. These mistakes include not being located a safe distance from buildings or other combustible materials. They are easily tipped over especially if they aren't placed on a flat surSee SAFETY I page 8 LEE ANNE HENSLEY/Hilltop Times Staff Sgt. Robert Bardago, 388th Equipment Maintenance Squadron, conducts a mock job interview with a student from West Point Junior High School on Nov. 17. Approximately eight members from Team Hill volunteered to help conduct these interviews to help the junior high school students prepare to work. For more photos see page 9. ill Thrift Shop Inc. offers many giving opportunities during holiday season to donate to the veterans residing at the Salt • Lake City home instead. Either way, Owen knew Hilltop Times staff it would benefit a veteran, and it would provide "ill Thrift Shop Inc. is organizing a holiday a teaching tool to her own and others' grandchil- ; dren. stocking giveaway to benefit veterans .at the George E. Wahlen Department of "I wanted to teach my grandchildren about the^ Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City importance of caring for our veterans," she ex- ; before the Christmas holiday. The thrift store has plained. "I have six grandchildren who will each ,i purchased 120 stockings and holiday cards, and take a stocking, go to the store and I'll let them > is counting on its customers to take the stockings buy items for both men and women and fill out the home, fill them with items from a suggestion list cards. Then I'll take them with us to the VA homej included with the stockings, write a note of gratiand they will help pass out the stockings. It will •> tude to a veteran on the included holiday card for teach them about gratitude and giving to people, ; each stocking and return the filled stockings to because Christmas can be such a 'get-get-get' holithe thrift store before Dec. 17. day, so this will teach them to give." "On Dec. 22, anyone who would like to go with ; "We decided that instead of doing an angel tree us can caravan with us down to Salt Lake City and this year, we would do a veterans tree, as suggesthost a small party for the veterans that evening ed by our treasurer, Mae (Owen)," said Hill Thrift and hand out the stockings to each veteran," Rose! Shop Inc. Manager Robyn Rose. "This project is elaborated. The exact time has not been arranged near and dear to Mae's heart. Her husband is a veteran, she works with and goes to church with yet, so Rose suggests interested people call the [ a lot of veterans. She is strongly pulled towards thrift store after Dec. 17 to find out the arranged < that, and she made it a special mission to raise time. i funds for the new veterans home in Ogden." Rose would also like to remind people of all ; ages that they can extend the giving season all "We kept a donation jar by the register for volyear long by donating a piece of their time to volunteers and customers to put change or donations unteer at the thrift store. -. into," Owen said. "Our board of directors has given the new "We constantly need volunteers because people Ogden veterans home $1,000, and we collected an are PCS-ing all the time and we lose really wonderful people that way." additional $800 in change and donations from our volunteers and customers," Rose added. Those with limited time are encouraged to volunteer as little or as much as they can. ; Owen also wanted to give stockings filled with needed items to the veterans who will reside in "We're open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the new George E. Wahlen- Ogden Veterans Home, from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., but our volunteers don't but after she was told the nursing home would not have residents until after January, they decided See GIVING I page 8 BY LEE ANNE HENSLEY H: LEE ANNE HENSLEY/Hilltop Times A Christmas tree sits atop a table at the Hill Thrift Shop Inc. on ' Nov. 11 which features stockings for customers to take home 'and fill with suggested items for veterans residing at the George E. Wahlen Veterans home in Salt Lake City. |