KINGSTON – When a neighbor heard smoke alarms sounding in a Kingston apartment and called 911 Tuesday morning, firefighters were able to get to the scene fast enough to thwart a small fire caused by unattended cooking, before it caused any additional fire damage or activated the building’s automatic fire sprinkler system here.

Crews from North Kitsap Fire and Rescue (NKF&R), Poulsbo Fire Department and Puget Sound Federal Fire Department at Subase Bangor were dispatched to the 18-unit, three-story apartment building on  Illinois Avenue at 11:07 a.m. Tuesday. The first unit arrived on scene in just over seven minutes from NKF&R’s South Kingston Road station.

Crews were able to locate the source of sounding smoke alarm and, though no one appeared to be home, gain entry to the apartment unit which was found to be inundated with smoke. The source – a heavily smoking pot sitting atop a burner on “high” – was located and extinguished, limiting damage to the pot itself.

Other fire crews, dispatched initially in the event that additional resources would be needed to squelch a blaze in the large occupied structure, were returned to their stations while NKF&R firefighters worked to remove the remaining smoke from the apartment.

NKF&R Spokeswoman Michele Laboda was teaching a class at Suquamish Elementary School when she heard her colleagues being dispatched to the building where she lives. Though she experienced some anxious moments until the crews arrived and details of the situation were clear, Laboda wasn’t unduly worried.  Having selected this building specifically because it had automatic fire sprinkler system, she knew that any fire would be quickly contained before spreading.

The unit’s owner returned later, and told firefighters before leaving home earlier that morning, he’d left the pot of chicken and vegetables in water on the stove to make soup.

Unattended cooking is the leading cause of fires in the United States. Between 2005 and 2009, according to the National Fire Protection Association, cooking was the cause for two of every five residential fires and cost about $771 million in property damages annually. Because the alert neighbor reported the fire early and firefighters responded quickly, these consequences were averted.

There were no injuries to firefighters or civilians.