4th of July grilling safety; what you need to know

PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ)- The biggest grilling day of the year, the Fourth of July, it is also the busiest day for grill-related fires.

71 percent of grill for the holiday, followed closely by Memorial Day and Labor day. Grill fires cause an average of 10,600 home fires and 150 million in property damage every year. Grills also send about 21,000 people to the emergency room annually, with burns being the most common injury. July is the peak month for these dangerous accidents. 

Mike Alejo, the lead sales rep at Fireplace in Palm Desert says, "The first thing people should do before grilling is make sure that their connections to gas. Secondly is just make sure that you have a good ventilated area."

Cal Fire says not cleaning grills is one of the biggest causes of the fires they see when it comes to grill fires.

Captain John Clingingsmith Jr. of Cal Fire Riverside County said "Not having a clean grill, most of us don't clean the grill property and enough so a lot of the build up leads to a lot of fires."

Stay tuned for my full story at 6.