Fire service 'Scream' spoof highlights ‘kitchen nightmare’ house blaze risk

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) has released a Scream-inspired mini-film to remind people of the dangers of leaving their cooking unattended.

Fire safety bosses hope the film will prompt people to avoid a kitchen nightmare by keeping an eye on their cooking with more than half of all accidental house fires in South Yorkshire cooking-related.

SYFR Group Manager Ade Parkin, said: “The opening scene of the original Scream movie is one of the most iconic moments in horror film history. We wanted to tap into that nostalgia this Halloween to remind residents that behind the masks and jump scares, there’s a very real villain in everyone’s home- and its name is distraction.

“So many of the fires we attend start in the kitchen, but almost all of them are entirely preventable. It’s so easy to be distracted by the TV, young children or your mobile phone-

but it only takes a few moments for cooking to ignite, sparking a fire which could put lives at risk and cause irrevocable damage to your home in the process.”

SYFR attended more than 800 cooking-related fires in last three years. Of these, 32 per cent of them were caused by distraction.

Top tips for avoiding a kitchen fire:

 Keeping electrical leads, cardboard and fabrics well away from the hob

 Switching off cooking appliances when you’ve finished and before you go to bed

 Keeping ovens and grill pans clean from grease and crumbs

 Having working smoke alarms and testing them regularly