BATON ROUGE – The St. George Fire Department is experiencing higher incidences of building fires so far in the year with several others being deemed cooking fires. 

According to the department, firefighters have responded to 27 building fires this year and 11 additional cooking fires that did not spread to the rest of the structure. Of the 27 fires, five are still being investigated and seven originated in the kitchen.

The department says that the kitchen is the room in homes where the highest number of fires originate.

Some appliances may have electrical issues however the most common cause of kitchen fires is lack of attention, according to the department.

Fire department officials are urging citizens to pay more attention in order to decrease the amount of kitchen fires.