Lancashire's firefighters launch new campaign urging cooks to stay at the stove and avoid blazes in the home

According to Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service (LFRS), simple distractions can have devastating effects when cooking.

New reseearch carried out by LFRS reveals around half of all accidental house fires that fire and rescue services attend each year are cooking-related fires. Most cooking fires were caused by the person becoming distracted by something in the home, with 119 cooking fires caused by distractions in 2020.

This is why LFRS is launching a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of cooking fires, with the message “Stay there and cook it!”

A major cause of accidental house fires is the risk of distraction; in 2020 people becoming distracted in the kitchen was the cause of 36 per cent of cooking-related fires. People can help reduce accidental cooking fires in the home by keeping to the task at hand and not getting distracted.

Group Manager Kirsty McCreesh, the Prevention lead for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Our data shows that cooking fires can happen to anyone, they are the most common type of fires in people’s homes that we attend and we want to see the number significantly reduced and an end to injuries.

“There are plenty of simple things that people can do to drastically reduce the chance that they will have a cooking fire and these include staying with cooking, not getting distracted and keeping the hob and surrounding area clean and clear. Make sure that you have working smoke alarms and, should a fire occur, get out, stay out and call us out.”

For further advice and guidance on fire safety in the home, including cooking safety, please visit: www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/cooking.