BY JESSICA ROUSE
NSW Fire and Rescue is urging everyone to "Keep looking when cooking", particularly after an apartment block in Newcastle's west was evacuated overnight due to a cooking misadventure.
Eighty people were evacuated from The Cove apartment block in Bellevue Street when a resident left their chops cooking unattended in the kitchen.
The main focus of the "keep looking when cooking" campaign is to remind everyone to never leave cooking unattended as it's so easy to become distracted and lose track of what you're doing.
Cooking misadventures account for more than 50 per cent of fires which start in homes and NSW Fire and Rescue say the message really is quite simple - watch what you're doing when you're cooking.
"A few moments inattention can lead to very significant consequences with a fire starting very quickly and spreading from the stove top into the kitchen cabinets and elsewhere so we really need people to keep a very close eye on what they're cooking," said Acting Assistant Commissioner for Fire Safety Jeremy Fewtrell.
They're also encouraging everyone to think ahead and have a fire blanket nearby in the kitchen and an extinguisher in case the unthinkable happens. If a fire is quite small, the size of a dinner plate for instance, they say the best thing to do is use a fire blanket or extinguisher to put it out but if you're not comfortable ring triple zero immediately.
"The best thing they can do is get themselves and any other residents or occupants in the house out and then call triple zero and request fire and rescue to attend," said Jeremy Fewtrell.
"We also encourage people to have a home escape plan and that's just a quick conversation and a quick sketch and plan amongst your family or the group of people that you are living, about your exit points and how you're going to get out of the house safely and what would be your other path to exit the house."
