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Campbell River fire department responds to two kitchen fires in two days

Chief says frequency of kitchen incidents “shocking”
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Two incidents over the weekend involved kitchen fires. Photo by Marc Kitteringham, Campbell River Mirror.

The Campbell River fire department responded to two different kitchen fires in as many days this weekend.

The first incident was on Friday, May 6. Crews responded to a call for a structure fire on Captain John Crescent at around 6 p.m.

“We arrived on scene to a single family home, were met by the occupants who said there was a small fire in the kitchen,” said fire chief Thomas Doherty. “Crews entered the building, there was some smoke inside, and found there was a small fire on the stove. It burnt through the cooking utensils they had there, but it was contained to the stove top.”

There were no injuries in that incident, and the family was able to return home after crews ventilated the building.

On Sunday, crews were dispatched again to a call for smoke in a kitchen, this time in a four-storey apartment building on 4th Avenue.

“There was a report of smoke on the second floor,” Doherty said. “We went into the unit — there was no one home at the time — and found a fry pan left on top of the stove that was burning and had some burnt food in it.”

Doherty said that they respond to these kinds of incidents quite often.

“It’s shocking how often we get these kinds of incidents, where people start cooking and either forget or leave the premises and a short time later we’re called to it,” he said. “It seems pretty important that if you’re going to be cooking in the kitchen that you don’t leave it unattended.”

There were no injuries reported in either incident, and nobody displaced from their homes.

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Marc Kitteringham

About the Author: Marc Kitteringham

I joined Campbell River Mirror in early 2020, writing about the environment, housing, local government and more.
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