PHOENIX — Firefighters across Arizona are pulling out all the stops for a big cook-off competition called “Cook Like a Firefighter.”
It’s not just about culinary skills, it’s to raise awareness about kitchen fire safety.
“We invited all of the fire departments across the state of Arizona,” said Mik Milem, Chief Operations Officer at the Arizona Burn Foundation, an organization working to help burn survivors and their families and raise awareness about fire safety.
While a lot of their regular community events are on hold due to COVID-19, they decided to improvise.
“We came up with this idea of doing a 'cook like a firefighter' competition,” he said.
Cook like a Firefighter Competition
The competition, a fun and mouth-watering way to get the community involved and educated on kitchen fire safety, shows support for the state firefighters.
Each department put together their favorite station staple recipe to show off and fight for the prize.
More than a dozen fire departments jumped on board and they had a lot of fun filming in the kitchen, cooking up tasty dishes.
“We told them, be fun but also put some fire safety and cooking safety instructions in there... firefighters lived up to that challenge,” said Milem.
Firefighters made everything from simple pancakes to tri-tip sandwiches.
“Energy balls, I think there’s two different kinds of burgers,” he said.
It’s easy to get involved and vote for your favorite recipe too, by donating to the Arizona Burn Foundation.
“All the money goes back to the fire departments by providing them free smoke alarms and free children’s education programing for them to go out into the community with,” he said.
The event is based on learning new recipes while providing necessary safety tips.
“To help prevent injuries from ever taking place,” he said.
It’s a win-win.
To check out the recipes and vote for your favorite, visit the competition website.