Saturday night, shortly before 10:30 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to the Library Place Apartments, located at 2720 Hoyt Avenue, for a fire alarm that monitors the building’s fire sprinkler system. As crews investigated the source, they found light smoke and a significant amount of water on the third floor caused by a stovetop fire from unattended cooking in one of the units.

The fire sprinklers in the affected apartment did their job and controlled the stovetop fire, containing the fire to the kitchen area and preventing it from spreading to the rest of the unit or to other units in the building. Fire damage was limited to the involved apartment’s kitchen area. At the time of the call, water had flowed through the affected apartment, into the third-floor hallway, and into the elevator shafts, causing the elevators to be shut down until an elevator technician inspects them for safe operation.

There were no injuries in this fire. The Red Cross was called to assist one adult male who was displaced by the fire.

This fire is a good reminder that cooking fires are the number one cause of home fires and home injuries. The leading cause of fires in the kitchen is unattended cooking. According to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), almost two-thirds of home cooking fires start on ranges or cooktops. Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, followed by Christmas Day and Christmas Eve.