Dorset fire-fighters celebrated pancake day by teaching Weymouth residents about cooking safely.

The community event at the brand new Weymouth Community Fire Station offered hungry participants pancakes for a pound.

As well as Shrove Tuesday, this week is National Chip Week. Fire crews wanted to use this opportunity to urge pancake chefs and chip lovers to take care while they indulge.

Weymouth Community Safety Centre Coordinator Andy Fowler, said: "We wanted to use these two cooking related events to raise awareness of the dangers of cooking, remind people how to cook safely and invite the local community to our brand new community fire station and see all the facilities."

In 2011, Dorset Fire and Rescue Services attended 442 accidental property fires, of which 269 started in the kitchen - resulting in ten casualties.

Mr Fowler added: "We had fire crews conducting chip pan demonstrations throughout the day, with tours of the new community safety centre including the FireWise facility. FireWise is an innovative and compelling learning opportunity where the visitor experiences realistic fire scenarios to help them learn how to keep themselves safe."

The Fire Service has offered some useful advice for those who choose to deep-fat fry their chips. To reduce the risk, you should never fill a chip pan with more than one third of oil, be careful it doesn't overheat, use a thermostat-controlled deep-fat fryer and never throw water on a chip pan fire.