Sam Howzit / CC
Fire officials warn residents that going into the holiday season, the number of preventable cooking fires may rise as more people get together and celebrate a meal.
Rick Jefferson, the the public information coordinator for the London Fire Department explains that the fire department sees more incidents during the festive season,” This time of the year is the busiest for the fire department and there are several factors involved there. You get more get togethers where people are socialising. you get a lot more cooking and that cooking is the number 1 reason for fires in homes due unattended or distracted cooking.”
Jefferson also says to always stay with your cooking, ” They get distracted by many things so its easy to forget what is on the stove top. If you do have a small fire in a pot on top of the stove that way to deal with that is to have the lid for the pot nearby, put on an oven mitt and slide the lid onto the pot to smother the fire.”
Another tip Jefferson gives is that he recommends for Christmas lights is L.E.D lights as they do not overheat, ” There not that hot and do remember not to string any more than 3 strands of lights together or you will have an electrical and fire hazard. Also not to use lights intended to be used outdoors inside as that can also become a fire hazard.”
If a fire does breakout and can’t be contained, Jefferson advises that you call 911 immediately.
