Fire Service set fire to a kitchen demo unit

Fire Service set fire to a kitchen demo unit

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Parents dropping their children off at school in Rochdale were shown the devastating consequences of using chip pans last week – after an incident which left a woman with serious burns.

On Thursday, 4 October Blue Watch from the Fire Service and community safety officers visited Hamer Primary School for a joint road safety and kitchen safety demonstration and to advise people how to keep themselves and their families safe.

The Fire Service set fire to a kitchen demo unit in the school yard to show parents the dangers of using chip pans etc. It made quite a dramatic scene!

The event was aimed at educating various members of the local community who attend a weekly coffee morning at the school about the dangers of loose clothing while cooking.

It was also an opportunity to teach parents invited to the school about general kitchen safety and road safety, such as the importance of wearing seatbelts and ensuring that children have the appropriate child seats.

Watch Manager Ian Read said: “We decided to hold an event aimed primarily at Asian women in the area to give vital fire safety advice on cooking-related fires. It came after a serious incident we attended in which an Asian lady was involved in a fire with a pan of oil.

“The pan caught fire and she tried to move it to put water on, but the oil spilled all over her arm giving her serious burns.”

Crews were called to Yorkshire Street on the afternoon of September 10 where it is believed that the pan had been left unattended on a hob.

A 38-year-old woman was treated for her injuries by fire service trauma technicians and a Home Safety Check was carried out at the property and surrounding homes.

Watch Manager Read said: “On top of this, I’ve always had concerns about children travelling in the rear of vehicles without the correct child seat and belts, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to tackle both issues at the same time.

“We demonstrated the chip pan unit in the school yard to members of an Asian women’s group which meets at the school each week, and this also drew in parents dropping off their children at the school.

“Parents were then given advice on road safety thanks to the Rochdale Road Safety Unit and everyone seemed to really take the advice on board.

“Hopefully it’s something we will do again later in the year.”

Miss Joanne Shepherd from Hamer Primary School said: “It was fantastic to see so many parents at school for the Safety Event put on by the Fire Service and the Road Safety Team and special thanks to Mrs Coward for organising this for us”.