Scott Fire Chief Says “Don’t Microwave Your Face Mask”

Scott Fire Chief Says “Don’t Microwave Your Face Mask”

Many people across the country are wearing masks to protect themselves and others from covid 19 but some have tried cleaning them in dangerous ways that could even start a fire.news 1's cassie schirm spoke with the scott fire department who is warning others about what not to do.

Hundreds of posts on facebook have said to sanitize these masks all you need is a microwavebut what some people are finding out even here in louisiana is that throwing your mask in here to clean is a big mistake that can start a blaze."the microwave is not 3 designed for that.

"chief chad sonnier of the scott fire department is warning others not to do this after its happened numerous times up in northern louisiana."people were placing these masks inside a plastic bag and place them in a microwave for 2 to 3 minutes at the direction of a viral post we thought it was important that we get the word out in our area to not to do that.

It catches the mask on fire which escalates possibly into a kitchen fire or maybe even a structure fire"charred or fried ... many people have posted to facebook showing their masks after trying it..

But its not just masks that people are heating up to clean.a viral post shows money is as well making the money unusable and dangerous.

"what we recommend for money is spreading it out spraying it with lysol or something you know something like that to kill the bacteria."during this pandemic fires and emergencies do't stop so chief sonnier says they need the communities help."we just ask people to be conscious of the decisions they make because it affects our police department or fire department in our ambulance h'll all three agencies right now are extremely busy trying to help people medically and other emergencies so be very conscientious when yo're doing something like using a microwave how i's not designed to be used."cassienow the cdc recommends putting you mask in the washing machine on a warm cycle to clean and then letting it air dry they say its not good to put in the dryer.

In lafayette 'm cassie