Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service Newsdesk

at 04/02/2009 09:04

Cornwall County Fire Brigade is spending this month out and about in the community talking about kitchen safety. Part of the programme focuses on National Chip Week, 9th-15th February.

In Cornwall, in the period between April 2005 and April 2008, over half of all dwelling fires started in the kitchen, with over 70% of these being attributed to a cooking appliance such as chip pan or grill. Cornwall County Fire Brigade is aiming to educate as many people as possible during the week to help prevent these fires from happening in the first place.

Dave Carlisle, Community Support Officer says, “The chip is one of our most traditional and loved foods. Our concern is that chip pan and other kitchen accidents are all too regular an occurrence. Quite often all you need is an interruption like a telephone call or someone calling at your door and as you answer, the pan can be gently bubbling away and forgotten about. Kitchen safety is a prime example of where we can make major improvements through education.”

Free kitchen safety demonstrations will be at the following venues, with more to be confirmed throughout Cornwall:

Saturday 7th February

Bodmin Asda 1100-1300 including a collection for Precious Lives Appeal


Monday 9th February

Falmouth Asda 1030-1700
Bodmin, Priory House car park, special demo for the elderly 1100-1300


Tuesday 10th February

Falmouth Asda 1030-1730
Truro Homebase 0930-1230


Thursday 12th February

Camborne Cornwall Catering College 1500-1630
Par Somerfields 1000-1300


Friday 13th February

Penzance Tesco 0900-1200


Saturday 14th February

Wadebridge town centre 1100-1300

In the spirit of National Chip Week, where people may be eating fried chips in celebration, here are Cornwall County Fire Brigade’s top tips about what to do if a pan catches fire:

· Don't take any risks. Turn off the heat if it’s safe to do so. Never throw water over it.

· Don’t tackle the fire yourself.

· GET OUT, STAY OUT, DIAL 999.

Chief Fire Officer Terry Standing adds, “Repeatedly attending fires and seeing people make the same mistakes, places a responsibility on us to communicate the risk of death and injury. We hope that by working with others at a local and national level we will start to see a reduction in these all too preventable accidents.”

Ends

For more info or interviews contact Hannah Rees on 07973497207

Related item: http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=45872#chips