Dunedin fire crews douse week’s second kitchen fire

DUNEDIN fire crews attended their second stovetop kitchen fire in a week on Thursday evening.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman Mau Barbara said crews were called to a singlelevel home in Northumberland St, Northeast Valley shortly before 6pm, after reports a fire in a pot had spread to the kitchen walls.

Firefighters from Willowbank Station extinguished the blaze before it could spread further, before ventilating the property, Mr Barbara said.

The incident comes one week after a Dunedin resident was treated for smoke inhalation following a stovetop fire at a Wakari home.

Mr Barbara earlier said the key to preventing kitchen fires was Fenz’s perennial warning to ‘‘keep looking while you’re cooking’’.

Fenz offered the following advice for dealing with kitchen fires.—

For fires in a saucepan or pot, put a lid on the pot if it is safe to do so, before switching off power to the stove.

If a frying pan is ablaze, place its lid, a wet tea towel or a large, flat object such as a cooking board on the pan to smother the fire — never carry the flaming pan outside or throw water on the fire. If a fire starts in an oven, keep the oven door closed to prevent it spreading and to starve it of oxygen.

If in doubt, call 111 and evacuate from your home.

Clean your stovetop after each use to prevent fats and oils building up and adding fuel to any fire.

Also ensure your range hood is clean — as it can catch fire if covered in fats or oils — and regularly clean its filter.

Do not install a smoke alarm in the kitchen, as it will regularly give false alarms. However, you may wish to consider ‘‘heat alarms’’, which activate when a room reaches a set temperature, in order to protect a kitchen.