London Firefighters are hoping to douse an alarming trend.
So far this year, there’s been a dramatic increase in the number of cooking fires in London resulting in five injuries, and $300,000 in combined damages.
“We’ve been watching our statistics and most recently we had 7, which is highly unusual in February,” said Deputy Fire Chief Gary Bridge. “A big part of this is from people not watching what they’re cooking and leaving it unattended, allowing for these fires to occur.”
There was one in January, and there’s been one so far this March. Out of the nine total kitchen fires that have happened in London so far this year, three involved cooking oil.
Fortunately, none of the injuries have been serious.
Kitchen fires are traditionally the most common types of fires, but are also easily preventable.
“Anytime there’s a fire, a residental fire in a neighbourhood, the firefighters go house to house and actually canvass those areas and remind them of some of their fire safety messaging, in terms of distracting cooking, and making sure they have working smoke alarms in their homes,” he said.
The law requires smoke alarms on every story of a dwelling and near every sleeping area.
The fire department recommends pushing the test button every month, and replacing batteries at least once a year.
Source: London Fire Department Reports Sharp Increase in Kitchen Fires | (CFPL AM) AM 980
