French Fans

Fire Chief tells Euro 2012 Fans to grab a take-out

By London Fire Brigade
11/06/2012

French fans are being told to get a takeaway on their way home from the pub during Euro 2012 rather than cooking at home and risking burning down their house.

New figures released by London Fire Brigade today show:

· Two fires a day happen after Londoners have been drinking.

· One in four people who die in a fire have alcohol in their system.

· Three quarters of alcohol related fires are caused by cooking under the influence.

· Over half of these fires happen because someone has fallen asleep.

Today, when thousands of football fans will be leaving work early to watch England v France at the pub, adverts featuring the slogans GOAL! A picure of a burger will be appearing in pub toilets across central London. With an extra 2.2 billion pints sold during the last world cup the Brigade is concerned that there will be an increase in alcohol related cooking fires.

The London Fire Brigade wants to encourage fans who might be feeling hungry after a few pints to get a takeaway on their way home instead of cooking. Adverts will also be appearing in free newspapers and on social networking sites.

London Fire Brigade Commissioner, Ron Dobson, said:

“During Euro 2012, many Londoners will go straight from work to the pub to watch the football. Our research shows cooking after having one too many plays a massive part in house fires and sadly, one in every four fire deaths involves alcohol."

“If people cook tonight under the influence of alcohol they could be putting themselves and the people they love in danger. Play away from home and eat out.”

The posters have even been translated into French, with London being the fifth largest French populated city in the world.

Today, the Brigade will be using its twitter feed @LondonFire to get the message across. Taking the football into extra time, they will be tweeting about every fire that breaks out across London between 8pm and 12am. They are also asking fans to tweet, using the hashtag #EatmyGoal, with a football related takeaway team e.g. Chipswich Town. The best tweet will win a voucher of £100 from Takeaway.com. Prizes will also be given for second and third place.