Unattended cooking led to a fire Monday evening that has displaced a Twin Ridge family.
Around 7 p.m., a 13-year-old girl called the fire department, reporting a blaze in the kitchen at 16 Beechwood Lane. She and her younger brother and their babysitter had just returned home.
The dispatcher told the girl to close the kitchen door and for everyone to leave the house.
A general alarm was sounded, bringing all on-duty and available off-duty firefighters, and all volunteers to the scene.
“The fire was knocked down within 15 minutes,” Fire Chief Heather Burford said Tuesday morning. “Fire damage was limited to the kitchen, with some smoke damage elsewhere in the home and limited water damage. The home did have working smoke detectors.”
Fire Marshal David Lathrop has ruled the fire as accidental as a result of unattended cooking.
“The family will be displaced for some time due to the damage, but had made arrangements last night for a place to stay,” Chief Burford said.
The chief said that the fire was a reminder about “the importance of not leaving cooking of any sort unattended. In our busy worlds, it is too easy to become distracted once we have walked out if the kitchen.
“Stay with your food while you are cooking — kitchen fires continue to be the number-one fire in residential structures.”
In all about 30 fire department members responded to the General Alarm. There were no reported injuries to any firefighters or family members.