Dump chip pans, urge firefighters

It may be the nation’s favourite, but fire chiefs are urging people to throw away their chip pans.

National Chip Week begins today but Humberside Fire and Rescue Service says people could be doing themselves a favour by throwing away their chip pan.

In the past year firefighters attended 202 cooking-related fires, a quarter of which (49) were caused by chip pans and left 10 people injured.

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Pete Baron, from Humberside Fire and Rescue said: “I urge residents not to use traditional chip pans as they can very quickly over heat and catch fire.

“I would ask people to use oven chips or a deep fat fryer instead; they are much safer because they are thermostatically controlled which means they shouldn’t overheat.

“This is one simple switch residents can make to keep them and their family safer from fire. It is still very important that people remain vigilant whist cooking and never leave cooking unattended.”

Chips arrived in Britain from France in the 18th century.

Chips are now eaten by 80 per cent of all UK households - and a staggering 277 million portions of chips are sold in fish and chip shops in the UK every year.

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