Let's start with some history to catch you up to speed. (This is Corinne BTW)
First year of college, living in the dorms, my most favorite roommate and best friend...who we shall call Betsy to avoid potential embarrassment...decided she wanted to make french fries. So I leave for class with the with the most exciting prospect of having delicious homemade french fries when I return. However, upon my return, instead of being welcomed by a hot plate of french fries I am welcomed by a couple fireman carrying our couch out of our fried apartment.
 |
| compliments of www.liquidmatrix.org |
Yes, our apartment caught on fire, and we became the proud tenants to test out the newly installed sprinkler system for the first time. What happened was a little oil from the pan dripped in the burner and caught fire. When Betsy realized that there was a fire she did the natural thing and grabbed a big bowl of water...oh wait...I mean baking soda...oh wait...nope, she grabbed the water. This naturally made a rather large fireball (For a visual reference see image above) which set our whole kitchen/living room on fire, set the sprinklers off to give us some flood damage, and sent Betsy running out the front door and taking a little ride in an ambulance. (For those of you who don't know, to avoid a similar occurence in your kitchen, if there is an oil fire, grab the BAKING SODA (see image below if you are wondering what baking soda looks like).
So, here I am, four years later, armed with my attained knowledge of how to put out fires. However, I seemed to have missed the part about how to prevent them.Yesterday I was cooking up a fabulous culinary masterpiece of pigs in a blanket using canned rolls, and corn from a can ( I was in a hurry, don't judge). I turned a burner on, set the pot of corn on it, and went to go change. While looking for my shoes I smelt something weird so I went to the kitchen. A nice scene of my hot pad in flames greeted me. So I screamed, ran to the sink, grabbed a dish full of water, threw it on the hot pad, threw the hot pad outside, and successfully put out the fire.
I guess I should've checked to make sure I turned on the right burner and not put the hot pad on the burner I actually turned on. (I think I might recall my mother trying to tell me not to set things on the stove while you are cooking because it could start a fire, but I'm not sure.)
(I would like to thank Betsy for giving me one of my most favorite college experiences, and many more.)
Paul, even baking soda is not recommended. Grandma's advice in this instance (baking soda, salt, flour, etc) is not the way to go. If you you use a pan or pot, you should always have the proper sized lid sitting next to the stove. If a fire were to occur, you calmly turn off the gas (or electricity), and using a hot pad or glove, slide the lid quickly into place and allow it to smother the fire. DO NOT MOVE THE POT! Let it cool down until its safe to touch. ALWAYS call 911 to have the FD check the kitcen. In many instances, especially in older homes, flames can work their way into the exhaust pipe and into the attic. You wont know anything is wrong until flames shoot out the roof 2 or 3 hours later.
ReplyDeleteOh, BTW, to avoid the issue, never leave cooking unattended.... :-)