A fire service is trialling a new safety device to try to reduce the number of lives lost and injuries suffered in cooker fires.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service is trialling a new cooker shutdown device.

Kitchen fires are one of the most common call-outs for firefighters with a large number of incidents caused by cooking being left unattended by residents under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medical conditions such as a dementia.

The trialled device, revealed in this month’s performance report for the service, is wired into the cooker by a registered electrician.

When the cooker is left unattended the device monitors the rise in temperature and when it reaches a dangerous point an alarm activates to warn the occupier.

If the cooker is left unattended and the alarm not reset, the device will automatically shut down the power.

The service hopes to raise awareness of the shutdown device with landlords so they fit them in the homes of vulnerable tenants.

Among other innovations launched by the service is the use of volunteers to carry out health and wellbeing visits.

The visits, inspired by a fatal fire involving a severely disabled elderly person, are aimed at individuals over 80 and is designed to identify changes in a resident’s circumstances that may affect their ability to escape a fire.

Eight trained volunteers are taking part in a proposed three-month pilot before the service plans to encourage more volunteers to support the initiative.