Spate of fires leads to kitchen safety advice

Most fires in the home start in the kitchen – so Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service is reminding local people to take extra care when cooking.

The Service responded to 13 cooking related kitchen fires in North Wiltshire and 11 in West Wiltshire between April and June, most of which started either as a result of carelessness with appliances or people being distracted.

The following safety tips should always be followed:

• When cooking, take care if you're wearing loose clothing as it can easily catch fire.
• Keep electrical leads, tea towels and cloths away from the cooker and hob.
• Never leave children alone in the kitchen. Keep matches, lighters and saucepan handles where children can't reach them and fit a safety catch on the oven door.
• Keep the oven, hob, toaster and grill clean - a build-up of fat, crumbs or grease can easily catch fire.
• Don’t use a toaster underneath a kitchen cabinet as the rising heat can catch any residual grease on the base of the unit.
• Don't use matches or lighters to light gas cookers - spark devices, which you can buy from hardware stores, are safer.
• Don't leave pans on the hob when you're not around. Take them off the heat if you have to leave the kitchen.
• Don't put anything that is made of metal or is metallic inside the microwave.
• When you have finished cooking, make sure you switch off the oven and hob.

Case manager Jackie Tozer said: “Taking extra care in the kitchen can significantly reduce the risk of something happening. However, if you do have a kitchen fire, be sensible - get everyone out of your home and call the Fire & Rescue Service.”

A range of home fire safety advice can be found on the Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service website, www.wiltsfire.gov.uk

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service (FRS) has retained the Government’s prestigious Charter Mark award for excellence in customer service – with its Safe Drive, Stay Alive road safety programme commended as best practice.

It is the fourth consecutive year that the Service has reached Charter Mark standards, having undergone a rigorous inspection over two days in May. The assessment highlighted clear improvements in customer care, and significant improvements over last year.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Des Tidbury, who oversaw the assessment visit, said: “The aim of Charter Mark is to examine services from the customer’s point of view. It encourages public services to be the very best, to focus on their customers, to constantly improve and to give value for money, so it is a great testimony to our staff that their efforts have been recognised as delivering better results year on year.”

He added: “The assessor has highlighted five areas where we need to make further improvements, and we will be looking at ways of resolving these as soon as possible.”

This year’s report found that Wiltshire FRS:

• Actively works with customers, partners and staff to make sure it delivers a high quality service
• Makes a worthwhile and valuable contribution to the wider community
• Works closely with people with special needs and hard to reach groups to ensure that all customers are treated fairly

 There was particular praise for Safe Drive, Stay Alive, which is targeted at young drivers and provides a hard-hitting road safety message based on personal experiences. The project is led and primarily co-ordinated by Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service, supported by Wiltshire Police, Great Western Ambulance Service, Wiltshire County Council, Swindon Borough Council, Roadpeace and Brake.

Safe Drive has been rated as ‘compliance plus’, which means it exceeds all the standard requirements of Charter Mark and is therefore commended as best practice to other organisations.

DCFO Tidbury said: “We are extremely proud of Safe Drive, Stay Alive and this commendation is down to the excellent partnership approach that delivers the roadshows each year.”

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