BISMARCK, N.D. – How often has the doorbell rung or you have been interrupted you while you were cooking, causing you to forget about food you were cooking until smoke filled the house?  The Bismarck Fire Department responds on average to 3-5 cooking related fires each month.  While most only smoke up the house or apartment, the chances of having a devastating fire can be only moments away.

Cooking is the leading cause of home fires, according to the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Latest statistics from NFPA say that one out of every three home fires started in the kitchen and more than 150,000 fires a year were related to cooking.  Most of these fires occur by leaving cooking unattended.

The bottom line is that there’s really no safe period of time for the cook to step away from a hot stove.

Key Cooking Safety Tips:
• Never leave cooking food on the stovetop unattended, and keep a close eye on food cooking inside the oven or microwave.
• Keep cooking areas clean and clear of combustibles (e.g. potholders, towels, rags, drapes and food packaging).
• Keep children away from cooking areas by enforcing a “kid-free zone” of three feet around the stove.
• Keep pets from underfoot so you do not trip while cooking.
• Never use a wet oven mitt, as it presents a scald danger as the water turns to steam if the moisture in the mitt is heated.
• Always keep a potholder, oven mitt and lid handy. If a small fire starts in a pan on the stove, put on an oven mitt and smother the flames by carefully sliding the lid over the pan. Turn off the burner. Don’t remove the lid until it is completely cool. Never pour water on a grease fire and never discharge a fire extinguisher onto a pan fire, as it can spray or shoot burning grease around the kitchen, actually spreading the fire.
• If there is an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the door closed to prevent flames from burning you and your clothing.
• If there is a microwave fire, keep the door closed and unplug the microwave. Call the fire department and make sure to have the oven serviced before you use it again. Food cooked in a microwave can be dangerously hot. Remove the lids or other coverings from micro waved food carefully to prevent steam burns.
• A cooking fire can quickly turn deadly.  Please heed these simple safety rules. For more information visit www.bismarck.org/fire

BISMARCK, N.D. – The Board of City Commissioners is scheduled to meet in regular session on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 5:15 p.m. in the Prairie Rose Meeting Rooms 104 and 105, Bismarck Civic Center Exhibit Hall, 315 South 5th Street, Bismarck, North Dakota.  The doors to the exhibit hall will open at 4:30 p.m. The public is asked to please make note of the change in location. 
 
For more information visit www.bismarck.org

BISMARCK, N.D. – The Morton Burleigh Bismarck Mandan (MBBM) Opportunity Development committee – a subcommittee of the Mayors’ Economic Advisory Group established by Bismarck Mayor John Warford and Mandan Mayor Tim Helbling, will hold a Public Input meeting August 18, 7:00 p.m., in the Tom Baker Room, City County Building, 221 North 5th Street, Bismarck.

The public is invited to attend, participate and provide input to the open discussion. The meeting will be carried live on Government Access, cable channel 2 and online at www.freetv.org. During the meeting only, viewers may phone 701-355-1312 or e-mail questions and discussion items to bismarckadmin@nd.gov. The meeting will be available for online viewing at www.freetv.org and will be replayed on Government Access, cable channel 2, and online at www.freetv.org.

An August 23rd meeting of the MBBM Opportunity Development Committee was previously scheduled. The meeting schedule has been amended to reflect removal of the August 23rd meeting from the meeting schedule in lieu of the August 18 Public Input meeting.

Future meeting dates and locations of the MBBM Opportunity Development Committee are as follows and will take place at 4:00 p.m.:

• September 21, 2010—Mandan/Morton County, Mandan City Hall
• October 19, 2010—Bismarck/Burleigh County, Bismarck Tom Baker Meeting Room
• November 16, 2010—Mandan/Mandan, Mandan City Hall
• December 14, 2010—Bismarck/Bismarck, Bismarck Tom Baker Meeting Room

For more information visit www.bismarck.org

The City of Mandan has a new website. Building on public feedback and a desire to improve customer service, the new site provides residents, businesses and visitors with more information through a new layout, design and structure that ultimately improves the user experience.

Site features include:

• Sections for all city departments with a variety of forms and descriptions of application, review and approval processes that will be helpful to residents and businesses.
• Information about volunteer boards and committees that assist with local government.
• A more visible business development section, making it easier for existing and prospective businesses to find information about opportunities and assistance.
• An on-line business directory that allows residents and visitors to search for businesses by category or name of business, while giving businesses a chance to provide citizens with information about other special offers, upcoming events, job opportunities and whatever else they want to share.

The city website continues to offer e-mail notices to anyone interested in signing up on a variety of topics including scheduled meetings, agendas, news releases, on-line polls and more. Subscribers to these e-mail updates from the previous website need to re-register on the new site for their service to carry on.

Mandan businesses are invited to participate in training sessions to learn about the features of the on-line business directory and how they can customize their listing. The training sessions will be held at City Hall on Aug. 17 from noon until 1 p.m. and on Aug. 18 from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. The training is free, but business operators are asked to pre-register by calling the City of Mandan Business Development Office at 667-3485 or by sending an e-mail to ehuber@cityofmandan.com.

BISMARCK, ND, August 2010. The Missouri Valley Coalition for Homeless People (MVCHP) will host Project Homeless Connect on September 2nd, from 9 am to 2 pm at the Salvation Army, located at 601 South Washington, Bismarck.

Project Homeless Connect is a one-day, one-stop event that brings service providers, community volunteers and community sponsors together in a welcoming, non-judgmental consumer-centered environment. Focusing on public awareness Project Homeless Connect emphasizes a way to offer people a path toward ending and/or preventing their homelessness.

Project Homeless Connect will take place during the week (September 1-4, 2010) which has been proclaimed as Homeless or Near Homeless Awareness Week by Mandan mayor Tim Helbling and Bismarck mayor John Warford.

In 2009, Project Homeless Connect, in conjunction with Central Dakota Veterans Stand Down served 476 people, including 135 who were military veterans. The 2010 event has the potential to positively impact those experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness or in basic needs.

For more information on Project Homeless Connect, please contact MVCHP executive director Miranda Albers at mvchp@rmhh.org or MVCHP president Heidi Selby at 701.328.8870.