Nearly half of British householders lack fire safety measures in their kitchens

Half of all fires start in the kitchen yet less than one in two British households (49%) have any safety measures for dealing with them, according to research by Firescape UK.

Stay safe cooking is vital, particularly as Brits are now cooking more than ever. One in eight of us is rustling up meals from scratch during lockdown, either in the kitchen or on a barbecue in the back garden.

Follow these top ten safety tips

1. Make sure your meat or vegetables are dry especially if they have been frozen - this will stop your pan or barbecue spitting out oil, avoiding burns and preventing a potential fire.

2. Never leave your pan or barbecue unattended - it can take several minutes to get the pan or coals hot. Our independent Firescape UK research revealed nearly two-thirds of Brits admit they’ve left cooking unattended.

3. If you have a pan fire never use water to put it out - oil fires can be the hardest to put out and adding water will cause a major fire. If you have Pan-Safe you can just use that, if not, use a damp tea towel to smother flames. Research revealed one in four people would throw water on a pan fire because they thought that would put it out.

4. Avoid wearing loose sleeves and other clothes that can catch fire from a hob, coals or the pan itself.

5. Clean up wrappers, tea towels, oil bottles and other inflammable items from around your cooker or outside grill as they may spark a fire.

6. Don’t be tempted to store food in your oven as it’s easy to forget and put the oven on to warm up, again with the potential to start a fire.

7. Don’t forget to keep your gadgets and appliances safe – many of us are dusting off appliances from griddle pans, deep-fat fryers to bread-makers. Make sure they are clean, cords aren’t frayed and don’t forget the humble toaster - if you’ve got crumbs in the bottom these can catch fire. Firescape UK research says more than half of us (55%) don’t regularly check appliances and 27% of those, say they never do.

8. Make sure any hot fat or grease cools down before you put it in the rubbish and dilute it with washing up liquid if it’s going down the sink, so you don’t clog up your pipes or set fire to your bin.