Novato firefighters credited a free smoke alarm program for helping a 67-year-old woman escape injury in a kitchen fire Monday.
The fire broke out shortly after 11 a.m. on El Arroyo Place in the Los Robles Mobile Home Park, fire officials said. The fire ignited after the woman, who was heating oil in a pot to cook spring rolls, left the kitchen for a few minutes.
The woman heard the smoke alarm go off, and came back to the kitchen to find the stovetop on fire and the flames extending to the hood and cabinets. She left the home and called 911, and firefighters were able to extinguish the fire before it spread beyond the kitchen.
"Cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires and home fire injuries in Novato," said Novato fire Battalion Chief Bill Tyler. "Smoke alarms that are properly installed and maintained play a vital role in reducing fire deaths and injuries."
The smoke alarm had been installed by the Novato Sunrise Rotary Club under its annual program to provide smoke alarms and batteries for residents of the city's mobile home neighborhoods. The program has been operating for about a decade.
Copyright 2012 - The Marin Independent Journal, Novato, Calif.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
