Fires in 2 Winnpeg apartments blamed on unattended cooking: WFPS

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) is warning about the dangers of leaving your cooking unattended.

On Friday, the WFPS responded to two separate fires in apartment buildings.

The first was in a three-storey apartment building in the 500 block of Maryland Street at 8:12 p.m.

Crews arrived to smoke inside the building. The fire was quickly declared under control and contained to the suite it started in.

Occupants of the building were temporarily forced out of their homes and all were able to return to their apartments except for the occupants of the suite the fire was contained to.

Less than 10 km down the street, crews responded at 9:16 p.m. to the 1800 block of Pembina Highway for reports of smoke in an eight-storey apartment building.

When crews arrived on scene, they determined the smoke was from a kitchen fire in one of the suites. The fire was declared under control by 9:50 p.m. and damage was contained to the suite the fire started in.

Occupants of this building were also temporarily evacuated, with the majority able to return to their suites once the fire was extinguished.

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The WFPS is reminding residents to stay in the kitchen while cooking and to turn stove burners off when leaving, even for a short time.

They also warn anything that can catch on fire such as oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels or curtains should always be kept away from the stovetop.

In the event of an oil fire, the WFPS advises using a kitchen fire extinguisher to cover the pot with a metal lid and says to never use water to put out an oil fire.