Kitchen fire safety
How safe are you in the kitchen?
OVER 50 per cent of all accidental fires in Cambridgeshire homes start in the kitchen, which is why it is so important to do all you can to be safe in the kitchen.
Over the last five years, two of the county's residents have been killed in kitchen fires, 245 people have been injured, and 11 have had to be rescued by firefighters after they were unable to escape.
It is so easy to get distracted while cooking - the doorbell can go, the phone rings, children can distract us, or we leave the room to do other chores while food is cooking. A significant number of cooking related fires start when people come home from an evening at the pub after consuming alcohol, start to cook something and then fall asleep on the sofa. The next thing they know is being woken by firefighters, surrounded by thick black smoke, or waking up in a hospital bed.
The kitchen can be the most dangerous place in the home. Fire can cause damage not just to their property, but to family and loved ones too.
By following some simple fire prevention advice, people can enjoy cooking safely:
Cookers and microwaves
- Keep electrical leads, tea towels and cloths away from the cooker.
- Keen the oven, hob and grill clean. A build-up of fat and grease can easily catch fire.
- Don't put anything metallic inside the microwave.
- Take care if you are wearing loose clothing, it can easily catch fire.
Cooking safely
- Don't leave pans unattended. Take them off the heat if you have to leave the room. Fire starts when your attention stops.
- Don't use matches or lighters to light gas cookers. Spark devices are safer.
- Turn saucepan handles so they don't stick out from the hob.
- Keen the oven door shut.When you've finished cooking, make sure the cooker or oven is turned off.
- Take care late at night. Most kitchen fires start between 10pm and 4am. It's easy to be careless when you're tired or if you've been drinking.
Chip pans/Deep frying
- Dry the food before you put it in oil
- Never fill the pan more than one-third full of oil
- If the oil starts to smoke, it's too hot. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool.
- Use a thermostatically controlled electric deep-fat fryer. They can't overheat.
- Never pour water on hot fat.
If a fire occurs
- Tackling fire is a job best left to professional firefighters. If you discover a fire, get out of the house, shutting the door on the fire if possible and dial 999. Leave your pets, firefighters will rescue them.
Get equipped
- Smoke alarms can give you and your neighbours an early warning should a fire start. This means that the fire service can be called as quickly as possible, minimising the damage and life risk.
- Fit smoke alarms on every floor of your home and test the batteries once a week.
- Book in for a FREE Home Fire Safety Check. This is where a member of the fire service will come to your home and fit smoke alarms free of charge where needed.
- DO NOT take the battery out of your smoke alarm if it goes off unnecessarily when cooking. Fit an optical smoke alarm near to kitchens as this will not keep going off while cooking.
