A West Vancouver resident’s meal turned out a little too hot last week.
West Vancouver Fire and Rescue is reminding the public about kitchen safety after an apartment unit was filled with smoke from an unattended pot on a stove Friday.
Fire crews attended Viscount Apartment on 2109 Bellevue Ave. at 3:45 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3, where they found a ground-floor suite full of thick smoke that entered the hallway, said assistant fire chief Jeremy Calder.
“It certainly could have turned into a kitchen fire,” Calder said, adding that it’s important to stay in the kitchen or set a timer when cooking. Calder also said that having a lid nearby in case of a fire in a pot or pan can help smother it quickly, while if a fire does occur it is important to turn the burner off under the pot.
Calder said fire crew members were able to enter the unit, remove the pot, turn off the stove and ventilate the building to clear the smoke. The resident wasn’t in the unit when firefighters arrived and there were no injuries, he said.
There was no fire or water damage to the unit or nearby area, but there was small floor damage where crew members had to put the pot down, Calder added.
But saving the unit didn’t come without challenges.
There was difficulty opening the window of the ground-floor apartment as there were multiple locks. There was also a bicycle in front of the door, Calder said.
“I think that’s another safety message – just to make sure that any egresses are cleared so that [they are] easily accessible. You don’t want to store things in front of your access points, your egress points,” he said.
If a person does need to leave the kitchen briefly, bringing the utensil you’re cooking with can help a person remember to go back, Calder said.
West Vancouver Fire and Rescue saw six similar incidents over the holiday season, he said, so safety is crucial.
Calder said he thinks this case was a one-off accident with the resident forgetting they were cooking.
“In the event, everyone did the right thing – the alarms performed as they should and notified everyone of the smoke in the building and everyone left. We were there in a timely manner and able to put it out before there was a fire,” he said.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
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