INVERELL Fire and Rescue station commander Mark Savage has said that with nine people killed in house fires so far this year, people need to be very cautious when cooking food.
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New data has revealed about 50 per cent of residential fires started in the kitchen.
“People need to be vigilant in the kitchen and throughout the entire home this winter,” Mr Savage said.
He said everyone needed to ‘keep looking when cooking’.
“Fire fighters dread winter because there is always a spike in the number of home fires,” Mr Savage said.
“Tragically, these fires are also far more serious and are more likely to result in injuries and deaths.
“People seem to adopt the ‘it won’t happen to me’ attitude. The fact is it can. We urge everyone not to be complacent this winter. Asses the risks and take the precautions needed to prevent a fire.”
Mr Savage said people can prepare by following a few simple steps.
These include not overloading power points and power boards, keeping everything one metre from your heater, keeping candles well away from curtains and putting them out before leaving the room, turning off heaters and electric blankets before leaving home or getting into bed, cleaning the lint filters on clothes dryers before and after each use, never smoking in bed and remembering to keep looking while cooking.
There are an average of 21 house fire fatalities each year and about 576 people injured over winter, with 206 of those injuries suffered in a kitchen fire.
