The Roanoke Rapids Fire Department extinguished a kitchen fire at a home on Grover Street Tuesday night.
According to a press release from Fire Chief Jason Patrick, around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, C-shift firefighters were dispatched to 1911 Glover Street on a report of a kitchen fire. Upon arrival, firefighters found fire in the rear of a single-family home. The occupants of the home safely escaped without injury and reported the fire to firefighters in the kitchen. Firefighters quickly responded to the scene and extinguished the blaze.
According to a press release, the fire appears to have started in the stove, resulting in heat and smoke damage to other parts of the home.
Chief Patrick told the Herald that a resident told them they left something on the stove, which started the fire.
“When you have something on the stove, it's easy to get distracted,” he warned, “but you have to keep an eye on it while it's cooking. You have to be there the whole time it's cooking and keep an eye on it, because something's going to happen.”
Patrick praised the on-duty firefighters for responding quickly and putting the blaze out before it could spread through the home. He said the fire crew had about 22 on-duty firefighters, which was an augmentation of a typical crew of about 15 to 16. Patrick said this was the highest off-duty deployment RRFD has ever seen.
“The irony is that last week, before it got too hot, our firefighters were out at our training range this morning practicing how to deploy the hose and how to get the hose deployed quickly to put out the fire,” he said. “So it was ironic that it happened to be their shift that got this call. They arrived on scene, deployed the hose and did a fantastic job of putting the fire out quickly.”
Additionally, more personnel makes it easier to not only put out the fire but also to clean up, and firefighters remained at the scene for two hours, conducting a thorough inspection.
“The more people there are, the more the workload of putting out the fires and cleaning up is spread out,” he said. “Once the fire is out, that's just the beginning of the job. Then they have to make sure everything is fully extinguished, and then we have to go back to the station and clean everything up.”
The American Red Cross also responded to the scene to assist residents, and RRFD was also assisted by Halifax County EMS and the Roanoke Rapids Police Department, according to a press release.
