St Albans woman injured in chip pan fire

FIREFIGHTERS have issued a warning after a woman was injured in a fire at her home.

The Cambridge Road resident had been frying some food at around 1am on Sunday morning when the pan caught alight.

In an attempt to put out the flames, the woman immersed the pan in water but it caused the oil to splash back over her neck and arm, causing burns which required hospital treatment.

Firefighters from St Albans were called to the scene and arrived to find the fire all out but the woman sitting in her neighbour’s car with burns. They administered first aid ahead of the arrival of paramedics.

A St Albans firefighter said that tacking chip pan fires are extremely dangerous, especially if people pour water over it. As water is denser than oil, it sinks to the bottom of the chip pan and instantly vaporises, causing it to expand and eject a fireball of oil out of the pan.

He said that if a chip pan does catch alight, firefighters should be called, the power source isolated and the property evacuated.