House smoke-logged by chip pan fire

The incident caused the entire semi-detached property in Ince to fill with thick smoke, although the fire damage was restricted to the chip pan and the immediate area around it.

Fire crews were called to the Perth Street house at around 2pm on Sunday October 9 after the man had dozed off while the pan was still on the hob.

They found the smoke alarms had alerted the man, who had been looking after the house while his parents were on holiday, and a neighbour then entered the kitchen and extinguished the flames using a damp tea towel.

The man got out of the property before the fire service arrived and was completely unhurt by the incident.

Firefighters from Hindley station used a large fan to draw all the smoke out of the house and said the blaze could have been much more serious.

The crews are now suggesting Wiganers get rid of their chip pans entirely or at least ensure they are always being carefully watched when in use.

Watch manager Mick Callan said: “If the kitchen had caught fire, which it was seconds away from doing, then this could have been a lot worse.

“The neighbour has saved the day really, although we don’t always advise tackling a fire in this way,

“He put a damp towel over the top of the flames so we just came along, checked everything was safe and used a fan to clear all the smoke. We also gave some advice and made sure all the alarms were working.

“The parents actually arrived back off holiday about 25 minutes into us being there.

“We don’t advise people use chip pans, we think they should get rid of them and get a deep fat fryer. You need to be supervising them at all times.”

The fire service were at the address for around half an hour.