John Inglis is a trained chef who doubles as a retained Firefighter at Horsham Fire Station and as the Station's cook.

He demonstrated his twin skills at Sobell Court, a sheltered accommodation complex of 24 studio flats, in Henfield.

His visit was prompted by West Sussex County Council Fire and Rescue Service attending an unusually high amount of calls to the complex.

Jackie Boyle, Community Fire Safety Officer, said: "The calls were generally false alarms caused by cooking. This created a culture of residents not cooking proper meals for fear of setting the alarm off.

"We were able to make changes to the fire warning systems in place - and subsequently the number of false alarm calls has been reduced.

"However, we also wanted to help the residents overcome their fears of cooking and setting the fire alarm off."

That's where John came in.

He said: "All the residents have small cookers. But I was able to show you don't have to have TV studio-sized cooking facilities to produce healthy meals.

"I demonstrated a variety of healthy nutritious meals and encouraged the residents to eat better. At the same time, I was able to spread the fire safety message."

Peter Evans, county council cabinet member for public protection, said: "Ensuring as many people as possible receive vital life-saving fire safety advice is a key role for our firefighters.

"John and his colleagues are to be congratulated for coming up with this highly novel approach – which must be a UK 'first' – and giving residents food for thought in more ways than one."

Here's how to follow John's advice and eat healthily. One of the recipes he demonstrated was:

Chicken and pasta in a tomato sauce

You need: chicken breast, onion, garlic, penne pasta, red peppers, mushrooms, sherry:

Cut chicken into diced cubes.

Dice the onion and crush garlic.

Slice mushrooms and red peppers.

Heat olive oil, add garlic and onions then add chicken. Fry for ten minutes, add sherry.

Boil water in a pan, add pasta and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Add mushrooms, peppers and pasta sauce to chicken and cook for 10 minutes.

Drain pasta, wash off with boiling water, place in a bowl and add the chicken.

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