"We don't want people to leave cooking unattended, we want to make sure people have a working smoke alarm. We've had a number of fires this year where the smoke alarms weren't working.
"We recommend a long-life smoke alarm and to always have an escape plan. It's really important, especially if you have young children or if you're elderly, to have a plan in place in case of early smoke detection and you need to get out of your property quickly."
Cooper said schools were teaching children fire drills and escape plans, but still encouraged families to put plans in place for their homes.
While he said cooking was a major cause of structure fires, over-crowding was also another issue.
"With fruit picking season we get an influx of people in the region, usually from overseas.
"The fire-safety cultures are quite different. You would normally have a family of three or four in a house, but instead you get large numbers of people and landlords often don't know about it.
"You need working smoke alarms in every room of the house, not just in one room. If you have sleep-outs or anything like that, it's really important to have working smoke alarms out there."
Cooper said firefighters were also noticing a number of rental properties which didn't have smoke alarms.
"We're finding an increasing amount of people who are renting homes, don't have smoke alarms fitted and it's the landlord's responsibility to put them in.
"It is an extra cost for them, but at the end of the day it's their property, so the last thing you want is any damage to the rental, especially by fire.
"Some tenants are nervous to come forward because we have a legally bound duty to report landlords who don't supply smoke alarms.
"We really recommend that tenants speak to their landlords about getting them fitted."
Cooper said Fire and Emergency worked with several "risk groups" around the region and said some people are eligible to have alarms fitted for free.
"We work with a lot of risk groups, particularly Maori/Pacific groups who are at high risk. We find that they often won't have a working smoke alarm on the property.
"We're really keen to work with these groups. Smoke alarms come free for those who are elderly, for people who have children under 5, and for Maori/Pacific communities."
Cooper said those who were eligible for free alarms could contact Fire and Emergency on 0800 693 473 or to contact their local fire station.