TOKYO (Reuters) – A blaze broke out at a fire station in Japan this week after a firefighter left a cooking stove burning as crew members left the station to respond to emergency calls.
Most of the duty staffers were out on a call when their colleague, alone at the station and cooking dinner for the crew, was himself called out.
In his haste to respond to the call, he forgot to turn the stove off, said Seiji Hori, a Nagoya City Fire Department official. Ten fire trucks from other stations put out the fire, Hori added.
"We are an institute that should be in a position to educate people about fire, so we are extremely sorry that such an incident happened," Hori said, adding that they would consider ordering-in for dinner from now on.
This almost happened on my shift once when I was dispatching.
I sent an engine company from our station 4 on a medical call in early evening one day.
About 15 minutes after they called "on scene with EMS" I got a call on my business line.
It was an off-duty firefighter who was passing by the station, saw light smoke and investigated.
They had gone off and left a pot cooking on the stove.
Shortly, Engine 4 called "in service, returning to quarters".
"Engine 4, dispatch."
"Go ahead, dispatch."
"Unit 626 is on scene at your station. He asked me to relay to you that your beans are done."
"OH, SH-!!!...copy."
