DENVER (KDVR) — There is less than a week until the Fourth of July holiday. When most people think about safety concerns, they might think of fireworks.

What people tend to forget is that their food and grills at home could cause just as much damage.

“If people don’t follow the rules correctly, you can make people really sick. You can cause vomiting, diarrhea. You can end up in the hospital depending on your immune system," said Tracy Nguyen, an executive chef at HCA HealthOne Rose with nearly 20 years of experience. “It's very important to make sure you’re keeping your food at the right temperature, whether it’s hot or cold. Cold food needs to stay below 40 degrees Fahrenheit and hot foods need to stay above 135 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the entire event."

She says bacteria can develop quickly, mentioning you can find a temperature gauge at almost any grocery store.

“In a restaurant setting, we check our food every two hours to make sure it stays into the range," said Nguyen. " After a certain amount of time, you’re unable to really save that food. What that means is you do have opportunities if you catch your food out of the range in two hours. Then you are able to take it, put it in the freezer to make sure it drops to 40 quicker or take your food and heat it back to 165 so you’re sure bacteria is not growing in that.”

She says different types of foods have different temperature gauges.

“For example, fish should be cooked to 150. Chicken should be at 165. If you’re doing ground beef, let's make sure that's at 165. If you’re doing steak 135-155, making sure the different temperatures of the meat can be either of medium, well or rare if you really like it," said Nguyen.

Another issue she sees is charcoal. She said that when people are using charcoal, they tend to believe you have to continually put on more lighter fluid because they don’t see flames.

"The way charcoal works is that once you’ve already wiped the charcoal, it turns gray," said Nguyen. "If it's gray, it's actually creating the heat you need. You don’t need a fire in order to cook your meats or anything you’re grilling.”

Potato salad is a popular dish you should be mindful of when hot in the sun.

"It needs a little bit of cold to stay cold, put it on ice," said Tracy. "Make sure it stays at a certain temperature so it doesn’t go in the danger zone."

Not only is there a safety concern for what you put on your grill, but also the grill itself. Tracy says it's recommended that you keep your grill about 10 feet away from buildings or anything flammable to prevent any fire.

“As we’re cleaning the grill, the metal bristles may come off, it can get into food and can be swallowed, and we don’t want to have a trip to the ER. Make sure you see your grill clean so nothing in there can catch fire and create fire," she said.

It's also important to have a fire extinguisher handy.

“I would say to always have a fire extinguisher nearby, not necessarily water. The reason why I say that is because usually when you’re grilling, a lot of the fires tend to be oil-related," said Nguyen. "It’s when you’re making things that are dripping if your grill isn’t that clean. Like if the oil and grease haven’t been removed before you start grilling, that can actually catch fire as well.”

Most importantly, don't have too much fun at the gathering where you forget about what you are doing.

“Maybe that's you burning your food, stepping away from the grill," said Nguyen. "Kids may be around and running around. It has to be a little more watched with having such a hot item there.”

Washing your hands before and after handling raw meat prevents spreading contamination.

"Making sure you’re washing your hands in between preparing and cooking so you don’t cross-contaminate your surfaces or your foods," Nguyen said. "The big thing is chicken. We tend to prep chicken where we take the chicken out of the container and put it on the grill, but do we wash our hands afterwards if we’re not next to a sink?”