It’s easy to throw caution to the wind while doing everyday activities like cooking on the stove, especially if you’re trying to manage children and pets at the same time. But too often this happens and results in home fires. Practice home security and safety in one of the most-used rooms with these helpful safety tips.

• Stick around: Stay in the kitchen while you’re cooking anything on a stovetop range, but most importantly if you’re frying food. It’s easy to start doing something in another room and forget you’re cooking something on the stove.

• Set boundaries: Keep anything that can catch fire easily at least three feet away from the range like potholders, dishtowels or plastic bags. Also keep any children or pets three feet away and teach them to stay away from the stove.

• Detect it: Install smoke detectors and an ADT home alarm system with smoke- and heat-detecting sensors so that in case something you’re cooking gets out of control, you, your family and the proper emergency services authorities can be alerted.

• Form good habits: Cook on back burners if possible and turn pot handles toward the back of the range so that small children can’t reach them. Also, keep any hot containers like pans or trays away from the counter’s edge.

• Keep it clean: Always clean your cooking area after you’re done and everything has cooled. Keep grease from building up on the range, microwave and oven.

Your laundry room may be the focus of one of your biggest household chores, but it also presents plenty of hazards. Be sure to clean up your mess, and pay attention to these items and areas to help keep your home safe:

* Buckets/tubs: When not in use, empty and store buckets and tubs upside-down to help prevent spills and to prevent children from accessing hazardous chemicals.

* Floors: Clean up any spills immediately. Also keep the floor clear of items to help prevent falls.

* Washer and dryer: Stay nearby while the washer and dryer are in operation. Prevent fires by cleaning out the dryer lint trap before each use. Also, install smoke detectors and heat sensors included with your ADT security equipment or other home alarm systems to alert you in case of an emergency.

Safety precautions, a home security system and smoke detectors are the basics for home safety. Be sure to round out your family’s means of protection by purchasing and placing fire extinguishers throughout the home that can keep small fires form turning into larger, devastating ones.

• One on each floor: This is a minimum. It’s better to have too many than too few.

• Susceptible areas: Most fires start in the kitchen, but it’s also a good idea to place a fire extinguisher in the garage where flammable materials like building materials and solvents are often stored.

• Easily seen: The devices may not fit in with your home décor, but you’ll be glad that they’re easy to locate if a small fire occurs. Hang them on the wall by doors, no more than five feet above the ground.