My mother would kill me if she ever found out that we only clean the church once a month, but what she doesn’t know can’t hurt her. In the back of the church, we have a full commercial kitchen. It’s a really nice addition we put in a couple years ago that allows us to serve food in bulk during the holiday season, specifically around Thanksgiving and Christmas. People need to be fed and there are many homeless people living nearby that the church is more than happy to support with food as best we can. This past year on Equinox, we cooked fried chicken and french fries. However, cooking all the time builds up grease and residue on the kitchen hood vent. Luckily, Tucson Hood Cleaning was able to sanitize the kitchen vent hood and exhaust vents so we didn’t have to. We tried to clean the kitchen vents by ourselves originally, but it was way too much work. The grease accumulation was severe and we couldn’t risk starting a fire. I’ve heard of a couple restaurants in Tucson, AZ that burned down because one of the employees was cooking and a spark started a fire. They tried to use the fire extinguisher, but it was a grease fire and they couldn’t get it out in time. The restaurant owner had to evacuate the customers and the fire department barely made it in time.
Tucson Hood Cleaning has been our go-to company in the area for all the kitchen and hood cleaning services we needed. In addition to cleaning our hood vents, they emptied the grease trap, they installed a grease containment unit on the roof, they’ve performed a complete kitchen inspection under NPFA guidelines and certified us, and they’ve serviced the commercial fire extinguisher so we are prepared in case something happens. We’ve also received staff training on how to prevent a fire and what to do in case one happens. Our instructions are to turn off the ovens and cook tops to minimize flames, evacuate the staff and patrons, and then call the fire department as we spray the fire extinguisher at the base of the flame.