Man treated for facial burns after kitchen fire in Whittlesey

Two crews from Whittlesey and Stanground were called to the fire in Pinewood Avenue at 5.52pm on Tuesday December 20 after the occupants of the house left a chip pan unattended on the cooker.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used a dry powder extinguisher to extinguish the chip pan fire and a hose reel to dampen down surrounding cupboards that had caught fire before returning to their stations by 7.09pm.

A smoke alarm had alerted the occupants to the fire. They then used a fire blanket in an attempt to extinguish the fire before shutting the kitchen door to prevent the fire from spreading to the rest of the house.

A man living at the address was treated for minor burns to his forehead at the scene.

Station Commander Giles Grainger said: “I would like to take this opportunity to remind people not to leave chip pans unattended and to advise them to use a thermostatically controlled chip pan as an alternative. This incident also highlights the importance of having working smoke alarms in your home.”

Around half of all house fires start in the kitchen. The main cause is cooking with around a quarter of all cooking-related kitchen fires blamed on people getting distracted.