THE fire service wants people to be more 'safety savvy' in the kitchen with the launch of a new cooking campaign.

A Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said around half of all accidental house fires, around 250, attended each year are cooking related.

Tony Crook, prevention, protection and road safety lead for the service said: "Whether it’s storing food items, electrical items or clothing on the back of the cooker hob or storing kitchenware inside ovens, it doesn’t take much for the radiated heat to ignite items or the grease and oil to catch in the oven.

"It happens more often than people may realise so we’re aiming to get this keep it clean and clear message at the forefront of people’s minds.

"We want people to be more fire safety savvy in the kitchen."

This latest theme forms part of a larger 'cook safe' campaign for 2018 which began back in January with ‘distractions could be disastrous’, later moving on to address dangers of loose clothing around cooking.

Mr Crook said: "This campaign is not just about taking care of your own fire safety in the kitchen but keeping it in mind when you visit family or friends too, particularly if they are older or more vulnerable and perhaps aren’t aware of the risk they are putting themselves at."

"So this autumn, forget the spring clean, let’s get that cooker clean and clear.

"Together we can help reduce cooking fires in the home."