How a bag of chips could help cut the number of house fires

Monday 17 February 2014

Firefighters have come up with a new ally in the battle to prevent fires in the home - the Great British Chip Shop.

It’s National Chip Week and Jersey Fire & Rescue are highlighting the dangers of cooking with hot oil by encouraging Islanders to support their local chippy in a bid to reduce the 32% of all house fires caused by chip pans or unattended cooking. Town Mills chip shop Prime Fry is offering three free bags of chips to anyone who hands over their chip pan as part of an unusual amnesty.

Chippy Paul Donnell said: "Chips are a part of our British diet, a tradition and a way of life. Hopefully the chip pan amnesty will save a few lives, it's really worth leaving deep fat frying to the professionals."

Firefighters will be giving cooking fire safety advice at Jersey Electricity Powerhouse on Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 1pm and 3pm.

But they say if you must cook your potatoes in a traditional chip pan you should follow their fire safety tips:

• Don't cook after drinking alcohol.
• Don't throw water on a chip pan fire.
• Don't overfill a chip pan with oil - never fill it more than one-third full.
• Take care when cooking with hot oil it self-ignites at 360 degrees centigrade.
• If the oil starts to smoke, it's too hot. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool.
• Use a thermostat controlled electric deep fat fryer. They can't overheat.
• Do not leave cooking unattended and avoid leaving children in the kitchen alone when cooking on the hob.
• Make sure food is dry before putting it in hot oil so it doesn't splash.

If a pan does catch fire the Service say turn off the heat if it is safe to do so, never throw water over it, don’t tackle the fire yourself, get out of the building and call 999.