ANDOVER, MASS. (WHDH) - The new equipment handed out to residents in Merrimack Valley caused some trouble for a homeowner in Andover.
Kathy Papadopoulos is without gas, so she’s been cooking dinner on the hot plate she received from the city, but Monday night, her dinner went up in flames.
“As soon as I put the oil on the egg, the pan started smoking, and then, right when I went to take it off, it caught fire, and I started running out the door with it on fire,” she said.
Papadopoulos says she put the fire out herself, her house filled with smoke.
Her 13-year-old son says he heard his mother screaming.
“The fire was going up to here, and my mom was panicking,” Dino Papadopoulos said.
Firefighters responded to Papadopoulos’ home about 7:30 p.m., and opon arrival, they were met outside the home by a resident who reported that they had been cooking when oil left on a pan on the hot plate ignited causing a grease fire.
The home sustained a minor smoke condition, which was quickly ventilated by firefighters, officials say.
Andover Fire Chief Michael Mansfield cautions that residents should never grab a pan that is on fire and attempt to move it outside.
“Electric cooking elements stay hotter for longer than gas cooking surfaces,” Mansfield said. “Grease fires can occur if cooking oil is allowed to overheat. Pans should be removed from an electric cooking surface as soon as cooking is completed, even if the hot plate has been turned off.”
Several families are still without gas in the area, taking cold showers and making it difficult to cook following the deadly gas explosions that rocked the Merrimack Valley earlier this month.
As the temperature beings to drop, crews continue to give out space heaters to families without gas.
Crews were back out on Monday, working to replace miles of damaged gas lines.
“People are losing jobs, losing product, losing customers, every day,” said Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera.
Local and state officials talked about the work being done to help small business owners following the deadly disaster.
“Folks are worried about the ability to holding onto their workers,” Gov. Charlie Baker said.
It will be weeks before utility companies complete their work. Families are trying to make do with what they have until then.
“I do not like them,” Papadopoulos said of the hot plates. “I do not think they are safe at all. I am not using it again.”
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