Manton: Fire safety event to be held on 6th June

The information day will address cooking safety, rogue traders, doorstep crime and first aid, to be covered by Notts Fire and Rescue Service, Notts County Council’s Trading Standards and the British Red Cross.

The event will finish with bingo, with safety-related prizes such as a deep fat fryer.

A Notts Fire and Rescue spokesman said cooking is the main cause of accidental fires in the home in Notts and older people are more at risk than other age groups.

“From February last year to January this year, there were 29 fires in Bassetlaw homes caused by cooking,” she said.

“Of these, 11 (38 per cent) were in older people’s homes, although over-65s only make up 19% of the population.”

“Notts Fire and Rescue Service hopes this event will reduce the number of fires in the district caused by people getting distracted when they are cooking.

Fires can start when someone leaves the kitchen, starts doing something else and forgets about their cooking.

People are advised to take pans off the heat when leaving the kitchen or, at least, turn the heat right down and then double check that the cooker is turned off when they have finished cooking.

Using a timer, particularly one that people can take out of the kitchen with them, will help and can even wake people up if they fall asleep.

Notts Fire and Rescue Service’s Engagement and Partnerships Officer Emma Darby, said: “We are hoping that, by focusing on older people in this district, we can cut the number of fires caused by people leaving cooking unattended, getting distracted by the television or anything else and forgetting about what might be happening in the kitchen.”

“We thought this event would also be a good opportunity for the County Council and Red Cross to get some of their important safety messages across.”