Electrical safety reminder following house fire

We are reminding the public of some key electrical safety messages following a house fire in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Crews were called at 2.15pm on Saturday (29 November) off Hillport Avenue following reports of a fire.

Three appliances attended the scene and found a fire in the kitchen which had spread to a bedroom upstairs.

Thankfully, nobody was injured.

The fire was extinguished using a hose reel jet and following an investigation, crews found that the fire started in the fuse box.

Station Manager Jon Jackson attended the scene. He said: “The cause of the fire was deemed to be accidental, by an electrical fault.

“Whilst this incident could not have been prevented entirely, there are a few things that people can do to reduce the risk of electrical fires in the first place and should the worst happen, limit their spread.

“Where possible, keep one appliance to one plug to avoid overloading sockets. If you’re not sure, use the socket overload calculator to reduce the risk of fire: Overloading Sockets | Electrical Safety First.

“Keep doors to any rooms you are not using closed. If there was a fire, it would limit the spread into this room.”

For more electrical safety tips, visit Electrical safety.