By BECKY CRISSMAN
becky.crissman@cordeledispatch.com

CORDELE — Crisp County Fire and Rescue personnel had a busy couple of hours Tuesday night, handling two calls within an hour of each other, both cooking incidents.
According to reports from Interim Fire Chief Jonathan Windham the first call came in at approximately 7:11 p.m. Firefighters were dispatched to 180 East First Street in Arabi. Upon arrival at the scene they discovered the cause of the fire was a crock-pot on the stove exploded blowing fire over the appliance. The fire was contained to the stove area and was put out with a hand-held fire extinguisher.
The second call came in less than an hour later at 7:50 p.m. Firefighters were dispatched to a residence located at 1137 Arabi Warwick Road. Residents informed firefighters they thought they had cut the grease off on their stovetop but it was still on and caused the stove to catch fire. There was extensive damage done to the kitchen area of the home. Fortunately a former volunteer fireman was at the residence and he extinguished the fire with a garden hose before fire personnel arrived.