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PHOTO BY CHANNING CANDIES

it’s to siding, vinyl or whatever it is, and sooner or later it’s going to start melting. Once it starts melting, now it’s going to start smoking and going to set fire. It happens a lot of times more than what people think.” Always make sure your fire is completely out. One of the most important, and potentially life-saving, rules of outdoor cooking is to always make sure your fire is completely out. It’s not safe when it just looks like it has burned out, or in the absence of a flame, but when it’s so completely cool you could stick your hand in the coals. “People have campfires and walk away from that camp thinking the fire’s out, but the wind picks up and rekindles that fire and nobody is there. They didn’t properly extinguish the fire, whether with a fire extinguisher or pouring water. Now you have a big wildfire.” This doesn’t happen only with outdoor cooking in the woods, though. “We see it a lot during Mardi Gras, too. People barbecue and have a good time. They get drunk, they finish cooking, they need to get rid of these coals, they throw them away in the dumpster. Guess what? It catches the trash can on fire. People don’t let the fire, or the coals, die out. There’s still heat generating in there and all a fire needs to rekindle is oxygen or wind. They need to be cool to the touch. You ought to be able to put your hand in there and not burn yourself. I always tell people, ‘If you have a couple of extra bottles of water, dump it. Dump it on the fire.’ It’s a constant thing where common sense ain‘t common anymore.”

Richard also says that many of the “shortcuts” home cooks try to use while grilling outside can result in disaster. “Some people try to use non-stick spray on their grill, but they don’t realize how flammable it is. If you do decide to use it, turn the flame off or spray your pan away from the fire. And for heaven’s sake, keep the spray can away from the heat. It will blow up and scare the you-know-what out of you.” Understand the technology you’re using. It might sound simple, but reading the owner’s manual for your grill is a necessary first step for grasping the nuances of the cooking fire- source you’re operating — not just making assumptions. “People get in their confidence zone and forget that safety is a key priority. Things change, technology is always evolving — and so are new barbecue pits. You might’ve had this old classic barbecue pit, but now you have an electrical barbecue pit, or you go from electric to gas ... it's it’s not going to cook the same. A lot of times, people might not tighten the gas lines up enough, or they might forget to put some piece of tape on there or something, and it starts a gas leak, then the gas could ignite. Really, every pit is different.” Never cook too close to your house. One of the most common runs that Richard makes as a volunteer firefighter is to homes where people have been grilling too near their house or underneath an overhang, like a carport roof. “The reason apartment complexes don’t allow people to barbecue on their second story is because there’s no room to pull that pit out. Many times, people are putting their grill against a back wall. It might not flame up, but guess what? That heat is going to transfer — whether

28 ROUSES SUMMER 2022