The Burton Fire District responded to its third cooking fire in a week when an unattended pan of grease ignited just before midnight on Thursday, Feb. 15.
Burton and MCAS Beaufort fire departments responded to a home on Bruce K. Smalls Road, where one adult and three children were home at the time and escaped injury. There were no working smoke alarms in the home. Burton firefighters installed three smoke alarms for the family before leaving.
While this fire caused minor damages, Burton fire officials are concerned with the recent rash of fires caused by unattended cooking.
“None of these tragedies had to happen,” Burton Fire Chief Harry Rountree said. “We provide free smoke alarms and training on fire extinguisher use. People don’t realize how quickly a fire will erupt. The most common statement we get from the resident is, ‘It happened so fast, I was just gone for a second.’”
Rountree said a fire doubles in size every 30 seconds and the kitchen has all a fire needs to quickly explode. Residents needing assistance with smoke alarms can email safetyed@burtonfd.org.
