Fire Extinguishers

[YYY]

Hi Everybody,

 

A week and a half ago, we had 2 small grease fires. Honey was frying catfish for some out-of-town guests. Cooking oil landed in the well of the burner and caught on fire … twice.

 

The first time I put (threw) a burner cover over the burner and Honey put the frying pan on top of it to weigh it down. That smothered the first fire.

 

I left the kitchen to visit more with our guests. Honey wanted to finish cooking and used the same burner because all the others were cooking other things.

 

Well the fire came back again bigger than before. The burner cover trick didn’t work as well this time. It knocked the fire down some but not enough. I grabbed the fire extinguisher.

 

I’m saying this next part with embarrassment. WE DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT WORK. So while my stove was on fire, we had to read the instructions first. Luckily there were only 3 very basic and very simple instructions. Honey put the fire out with no permanent or expensive damage … just lots of clean up. And best of all … no injuries.

 

So the morales of the story are: (1) have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen in a location that is away from the stove and (2) read the extinguisher directions from time to time – before you have to use it.

 

As a side note: The stuff that comes out of the fire extinguisher is a white powder that gets all over and into everything. Here it is a week and a half later and after a good cleaning, and I am still finding items with a fine white mist on them in places that I never would have thought of – some not even in the kitchen.

 

In addition, I am keeping a large, heavy, 1 ½ inch deep pot lid in a strategic location away from the stove to smother any future fires – with this I won’t have to worry about weighing anything down like we did with the burner cover.

 

Remember, have a fire extinguisher and know how to use it before you need it.

 

YYY

[HSmom]

Good reminder! And, I can attest that they are messy. I used one once in my kitchen (cheese dripped in the toaster oven). UGH! What a mess!

 

I'm glad you and yours were okay. Was your whole dinner ruined? How did your guests cope?

[Necie]

Salt works well for small grease fires in the burner pan. IF it's just a little flare up right under the pan I grab the salt can and pour it right on the fire til it's out. NOT a substitute for a fire extinguisher, but as a first response it is alot easier to clean up. NEVER pour water on a grease fire-even a small one. Have always kept a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and have never had to use it-have gone through quite a bit of salt, though.