AN elderly man popped out to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but forgot he’d started to cook a meal.
The food in the pan burned away and the pan and cooker caught fire at his bungalow on Sycamore Drive in Lightcliffe.
Smoke was spotted seeping from the house at 6.30am yesterday by neighbours who alerted firefighters.
The man had slept at a friend’s home and returned to find firefighters in his house.
Firefighter Mark Williamson from the Brighouse station said: “Luckily the fire had caused the power to the electric cooker to trip out. But the kitchen was badly smoke-damaged, with light smoke damage to the rest of the bungalow. The fire had been burning for some considerable time.”
