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Distractions Cause 48% of Cooking Fires

15th of July, 2024

Fires won’t wait for your attention: 48% of Lancashire Cooking Fires Caused by Home Distractions

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) is calling on residents to stay focused while cooking to reduce the number of kitchen fires. Incident data shows that 48% of cooking fires in Lancashire in 2023 were caused by distractions at home.

We all get distracted, but fires won’t wait for your full attention. It might be a phone call, a misbehaving pet, or helping your children with their homework - but these distractions can have disastrous consequences. Cooking-related fires are the most common type of fires in people's homes that the service attends, with around half of all accidental house fires being caused by cooking. In 2023, the service attended 317 cooking-related fires, with 152 of these caused by distractions.

To reduce the number of cooking fires in the county, we are asking people to stay in the kitchen while they're cooking and pay attention to what they're doing. By keeping your focus on the task at hand, you can help prevent distractions from causing a fire. This is a simple message that LFRS hopes will raise awareness of the dangers of cooking fires and help to reduce the number of incidents.

Liam Wilson, Group Manager and Prevention Lead at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, emphasises:

"Cooking fires can happen to anyone, but they can be prevented with a few precautions. Stay in the kitchen, avoid distractions, and keep your cooking area clean and clutter-free. Also, ensure you have working smoke alarms and know what to do in case of a fire: get out, stay out, and call the fire service."

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is hoping to see this figure reduce in 2024. By paying attention to their cooking and avoiding distractions, residents of Lancashire can help to prevent cooking-related fires and keep their homes and families safe.

For further advice and guidance on fire safety in the home, including cooking safety, please visit our website.