Fire chiefs in West Yorkshire have launched another safety campaign - about chips.

They have revealed that despite health warnings, we still love our fried chips and that has proved costyly in terms of house fires.

There have been 564 chip pan fires across the region over the past five years and those have put 169 people in hospital.

After 24 years, National Chip Week, which usually ran in mid-February, is sadly no more but the brigade still gets called to around 100 chip pan fires a year.

In addition to the people taken to hospital, many with burns, a further 113 people were injured but did not need to go to hospital.

READ MORE: Elderly man and daughter treated for effects of smoke after Marsh chip pan blaze

READ MORE: Brave Huddersfield mum saves children from pan fire

Cooking with oil can be very dangerous and the resulting injuries when things go wrong can leave people with severe burns.

The brigade’s Fire Safety Manager, Ian Bitcon, said: “Chips are a great national institution and a tasty treat everyone enjoys.

“However, chip pans can be very dangerous as obviously the oil can reach incredibly high temperatures and if that ignites you can have a very serious fire on your hands.

“Despite the move towards oven chips, we still attend around 100 chip pan fires each year, which cause lots of nasty injuries, some of which can be life-changing.

A chip pan on fire

“We would advise people to consider alternatives to deep frying such as oven chips.”

Top tips

Take care when cooking with oil – it sets alight easily.

If the oil starts to smoke, it’s too hot. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool.

Use a thermostat controlled electric deep fat fryer for chips. They can’t overheat.

Do not leave cooking unattended and avoid children being alone in the kitchen when cooking on the hob.

Don’t overfill a chip pan with oil – never fill it more than one third full.

Make sure food is dry before putting it in hot oil so it doesn’t splash.

READ MORE: Wheelchair bound pensioner rescued from Batley kitchen fire

READ MORE: Fire chiefs warn that a fifth of homes in West Yorkshire don't have a working smoke alarm