HIGH POINT – High Point fire officials are stressing safety messages after a recent rash of kitchen fires that resulted in injuries and property damage.

Through the first half of March, five kitchen fires in the city injured three people, two of whom required hospitalization. While the injuries weren’t life-threatening, officials said they’re seeing instances where people have put themselves in danger in ill-advised attempts to put a fire out on their stove or in their oven instead of promptly calling 911.

“The main thing is is that we’ve got to get these folks to concentrate on making sure they get out and making sure they call 911, even more so than trying to put the fire out,” said Capt. Denita Lynch of the High Point Fire Department. “If it’s something small, that’s different, but some of these fires when they’re being found, they’re way too big, and people just need to evacuate.”

Historically, cooking fires has topped the list of calls to which the fire department responds. From March 1, 2009 through March 1, 2010, there were 98 reported kitchen fires that caused an average of $22,765 in property damage per incident. The majority involve food that is left unattended on a stove or in an oven. Some of the injuries are due to smoke inhalation. Other times, touching a hot pan or splattering grease results in burn injuries.

Smoke from a pot left on a stove drew firefighters to a house at 509 Gatewood Ave. near downtown Friday night. No one was home or injured, though firefighters had to air out the house..

“The really bad part is, a lot of these have been in apartments here recently, so it’s not just that one occupant that’s at risk. It’s everybody in an apartment complex or apartment building,” Lynch said.

While officials said the top priorities in a kitchen fire should be getting to safety and calling 911, simple measures are recommended to contain small fires. For a grease fire in a pan, for instance, it’s advisable to smother the flames by sliding the lid over the pan and turning the stove off. If a blaze breaks out in an oven, simply turning the oven off and leaving the door closed is the best course of action, officials said.

“If people are going to try and fight a fire, we need to make sure they’re getting other people out of the house and trying to do it properly,” Lynch said.

pkimbrough@hpe.com | 888-3531