Most fires in the home start in the kitchen

Polygons Limited, from the Kent Science Park, is developing a device which detects a fire, and also automatically switches off the electricity supply.

The Department of Trade and Industry has awarded the company �20,000 to help it bring the device onto the market.

TripsSave promises to help the more vulnerable members of society.

Kitchen fires

The idea for the product came about in 2002, when one of the company's partners, Allister Russell left his cooker on at home while he went out for a short while.

He returned to a smoke-filled house that could have proved a death trap to him and his family.

He subsequently teamed up with Mark Pearson, a university colleague, and formed Polygons to develop a new piece of equipment aimed at bridging the gap between passive smoke detectors and sprinkler systems.

It followed research that pointed to the fact that most fires in the home are electrical and start in the kitchen.

'Saving lives'

TripsSafe sends a signal to the property's electrical consumer box, which cuts off the electricity to the device which is causing the smoke.

Director Mark Pearson said the grant would allow the company "to take our exciting technology forward".

"The grant means we can not only try to achieve this but also play a part in saving lives," he said.

Polygons has already received a number of orders for the device, even though full production is not expected to start until October.