Careless cooking practices continue to remain one of the leading causes of house fires in Hamilton, says the city’s fire department.
Last week, an east Mountain home suffered $350,000 in damage after unattended cooking oil on a barbecue ignited.
It was one of seven cooking fires the department has responded to in recent weeks.
No one was injured in the Sept. 27 fire at at 56 Rochelle Ave. in the Quinndale neighbourhood, said fire safety officer Dave Christopher. The fire began when the cooking oil was temporarily left unattended and caught fire.
The homeowners attempted to put the fire out with a garden house, but only succeeded in driving the fire back into the house itself, causing extensive damage to the residence, said Christopher. An off-duty firefighter passing by stopped to offer his assistance and prevented the homeowners from trying to reenter the home until firefighters arrived.
In another fire that day, residents were forced to evacuate an apartment building at 95 Wentworth St. South after an unattended pot on the stove caught fire. Damage was estimated to be $20,000.
Christopher offered the following fire safety tips to prevent a cooking fire from occurring in your home:
• Never leave cooking unattended; if you must leave the kitchen, turn off the stove
• Keep a large lid near the stove when cooking and if the pot catches fire, slide the lid over the burning material with an oven mitt and turn off the stove. Do not touch the pot until it is cool
• Never attempt to carry a burning pot or pan to the sink or outside as the burning liquid could spill on you
• Always wear short or tight fitting sleeves when cooking and never lean over burners that are in use
• Never leave children unsupervised in the kitchen for any reason when you are cooking
• Never attempt to extinguish a fire using water, it will only cause the fire to ‘flare up’ and spread. Instead, if the fire can’t be safely extinguished using a pot lid or a portable fire extinguisher, evacuate and call the fire department at 911.