Quick thinking by a Queen Charlotte resident kept a kitchen fire from becoming much worse last week.Fire Chief Larry Duke said the fire broke out Tuesday June 12 in a home on Forestry Hill, but the homeowner was able to successfully put it out themselves before calling the fire department emergency line.”They indicated that they had had a major kitchen fire,” said Mr. Duke, “but that it was extinguished and the house was full of smoke, asking for our assistance post-fire to clear the smoke.” The fire fighters had just finished up their practice night and so were able to send nine members within two minutes of the call. “We responded as we would to any structure fire,” he said, “we had our breathing apparatus on, we made sure the residents were out of the house and we went in with our thermal imaging camera and made sure that the fire was extinguished. The homeowner had already turned off the power to the home. We brought in our ventilation fan and proceeded to blow fresh air through the house to help them clear the smoke.”Mr. Duke said the homeowner was well-prepared having a ten pound multi-purpose dry fire extinguisher in the kitchen. “This was a very close call,” he said, “and for this home owner, if they hadn’t had a fire extinguisher handy it would have been a lot worse. I know one of the comments from the homeowner was that they had the fire extinguisher and they kept it close to the stove but they were really surprised by the amount of heat that the fire was giving off and if they had been any later it would have possibly have been too hot to get the fire extinguisher.”Mr. Duke said that it’s a good reminder that people have fire extinguishers in their kitchens, but not too close to the stove. He also reminds everyone to have working smoke detectors on each floor, and even one in each child’s bedroom.
