London Firefighters Want to Assist Coldplay's Chris Martin
The London Fire Brigade responded with an offer of a free home fire safety visit after the singer's wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, revealed Martin's cooking has twice caused the fire brigade to be called.
The London Fire Brigade's Twitter page (https://twitter.com/londonfire) lit up with clever, fire safety-related variations on Coldplay song lyrics Dec. 13 after the brigade publicly offered to make a free home fire safety visit to the home of the group's leader, Chris Martin. The offer was prompted by Martin's wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who made an appearance on a London TV channel's cooking show, "Jamie and Jimmy's Food Fight Club," and revealed Martin has cooked meals only twice and caused the fire brigade to be called both times.
"London Fire Brigade is offering Martin, 35, a free home fire safety visit where crews will talk to him and his family about how they can stay safe from fire and avoid cooking fires -– which are the most common cause for fires in the capital," the agency's news release said. It said the home fire safety visits go to locations where there is a higher risk of fire but also "are concerned about young professionals in London, like Chris, as they are responsible for one in four of all house fires. Kitchen fires account for at least three out of five house fires. Figures taken from the last five years show that there are on average nine kitchen fires a day in London. These caused over 2,500 injuries and 21 deaths.
"Kitchen fires are often caused by cooking that has been left unattended. Ovens or hobs being accidentally left on are also a concern, as are chip pans and items being left too close to cookers. A large number of serious kitchen fires also begin when people have been drinking."
"People often think that fires only happen to vulnerable people, but young professionals have a quarter of all house fires in London," said Dave Brown, the brigade's head of Operations, Prevention and Response, who used several Coldplay song titles to make his point: "Chris will know that fires can develop almost at the 'Speed of Sound,' so it's important that when they're cooking, people don't have 'A Rush of Blood to the Head' and leave their cooking unattended, causing a lot of 'Trouble.' Three out of five house fires start in the kitchen, so at this time of year, with the family coming round from Christmas dinner, it is important to follow our advice."
Londoners concerned that their home could be at risk of fire or knowing someone else who needs assistance can ask for a visit at https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/HomeFireSafetyVisit.asp.