Three Manteca residents were injured in kitchen fires late Monday afternoon some three miles apart as firefighters responded to multiple calls within an hour and a half.

The first call involved an older couple who received burns on an arm and on the side of the woman’s head in attempting to put out a frying pan. Firefighters reported that the woman was frying chicken nuggets when some of the hot oil got under the pan on the stove and erupted into a small kitchen blaze.

The woman tried to put the fire out with water which made the situation even worse, firefighters reported. When firefighters arrived on the scene they saw light smoke coming out of the residence. The flames were extinguished but not before an estimated $6,000 damage was done to the sheet rock, cabinets and microwave oven.

Once the fire was out, the first firefighters on the scene quickly treated the couple with saline solution that was poured on their burns as they stood in the front yard, just outside their front door.

A backup fire engine responding to the scene on Cottage was rerouted for a mutual-aid response to a structure fire on Harlan Road and Louise Avenue in Lathrop at the Carpenter Co. warehouse. Wooden pallets had caught on fire and the fire department was aided by ceiling sprinklers that had activated in the building. It took another hour using fans to draw the smoke out of the building. The smoke that was caught in the high ceilings of the warehouse.

Shortly after, another kitchen fire was reported on Lancaster Drive, east of Main Street when a frying pan ignited and a woman had taken it outside to protect her home. Firefighters said she suffered burns to her hand and arm.