By FireRescue1 Staff
HONOLULU — A fire department warned against accidentally turning on stoves after two kitchen fires occurred in less than 24 hours.
KHON reported that the Honolulu Fire Department warned the community to not use stoves as counter space and to always keep items away from the area.
“Common household items from a rice pot, from cereal boxes to parcels, a cardboard box, and they just needed some space to place it on top for a short moment while they ran an errand,” Capt. David Jenkins said about a kitchen fire caused by a stove that was turned on unintentionally. “Even at short moments, it could possibly be a cause for a fire.”
The fire department added that it’s important to keep items away from stoves, both gas and electric, because it’s easy to accidentally bump into the controls and turn it on.
“It almost happened to me too, because I was leaving my kitchen and my bag had hit the oven knob,” resident Althea Johnston said. “So what we do now is we tape it so in the event that is hit, it’s not going to turn on.”