North Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s campaign to reduce fires in the kitchen is coming to Anglesey 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 in Morrison’s Holyhead on Friday the 17^th of March 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 Anglesey.

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.

That is why firefighters will be out and about over the next two months, talking to shoppers across Anglesey 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 Gwynedd and Môn, 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.

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 Anglesey during March and April.

Check our social media pages to find out when it will be in your area.

To find out more about the campaign, search #wedontwanttocomedinewithyou on Twitter or visit www.facebook/northwalesfire