Winter fire warning for Melb households

Firefighters say Melbourne's cold winter nights are leading to too many preventable fires after electric blankets and unattended pots caused blazes on Sunday night.

The MFB is calling on households to follow simple safety rules in winter after three separate preventable fires on Sunday night almost proved fatal.

In one instance, a sleeping woman and her five kittens were woken by firefighters after a pot left on her stove sparked a blaze in her West Footscray home.