We Don’t Want to Come Dine with You! campaign comes to Conwy
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s campaign to reduce fires in the kitchen is coming to Conwy this week.
Staff will be out promoting the first stop of the ‘We don’t want to come dine with you – Think Safe, Cook Safe!’ campaign outside Morrison’s Colwyn Bay on Friday the 5th of February between 10am – 3pm, with more dates to follow.
Cooking is a major cause of accidental fires in the home in North Wales – this campaign highlights the dangers of leaving your cooking unattended, and not correctly cleaning grill pans, and follows on from other successful campaigns held across North Wales this year, most recently in Conwy.
Forgetting to turn off the hob, leaving food in the microwave for too long, overheating a chip pan, burning the toast, leaving the oven on – all of these can spell disaster in the kitchen and can lead to serious injury or, even more worryingly, the loss of life.
In Conwy county, between the 1st April 2014 and 31st March 2015 almost 30% were cooking related.
That is why firefighters will be out and about over the next two months, talking to shoppers across Conwy about how to stay safe in the kitchen, providing free washing up brushes to encourage people to think safe when cooking and to remember to ensure that you regularly clean your oven and grill. People can put their safety knowledge to the test by trying out our cooking safely quiz with a chance to win £100 worth of supermarket vouchers.
An online cooking quiz will also help those who cannot make it to the supermarket visits to learn about safety in the kitchen and have a chance of winning our competition.
Gwyn Jones, Community Safety Manager for Conwy and Denbighshire, said: “It is our responsibility to do everything we can to highlight that cooking causes a high number of house fires and to change behaviours to prevent these fires from occurring, however, whilst we can advise and educate the individual must want to change the things that they do in order to make themselves safer.
“Time and time again we attend house fires which have started in the kitchen – it is so easy to forget your cooking, especially if you are tired, distracted or have been drinking or on medication, and the consequences can be devastating. We don’t want to come dine with you and tackle your kitchen fire!
“So please take notice of our campaign, come along to see us at a supermarket near you – we will provide you with a washing up brush to help keep your cooking equipment clean and the chance to win £100 in supermarket vouchers. If you cannot make it, take part in our fire safety competition on our Facebook page at www.facebook/northwalesfire.
“Don’t forget – smoke alarms save lives. For a free home safety check call our 24 hour freephone number on 0800 169 1234.”
Here are Gwyn’s top tips for safety in the kitchen:
If you leave the room take the cooking off the heat
Don’t use matches or lighters to light gas cookers. Spark devices are safer
Always make sure that any handles are turned away from the edge of the cooker
Keep the over, hob and grill clean – a build up fat and grease can easily catch fire
Never hang anything to dry above the cooker
Take care if you are wearing loose clothing as it can easily catch fire
When you’ve finished cooking make sure everything is turned off
Turn off electrical appliances when they are not being used
Never use a chip pan – use a thermostatically controlled deep far fryer or oven chips.
Make sure that you have smoke alarms – they are free of charge and could save your life.
The ‘We Don’t Want to Come Dine with You!’ cooking campaign will be making appearances all over Conwy during February and March in the following supermarkets:
Morrison’s, Colwyn Bay – 5th February, 10am – 3pm
Co-Op Llanrwst – 12th February, 10am – 3pm
Tesco Abergele – 19th February, 10am – 3pm
Asda, Llandudno 26th February, 10am – 3pm
Further dates and locations to be confirmed.
Spotted something? Got a story? Email News@News.Wales
