Kitchen Fires.....
Types
of kitchen fires
What to do in a kitchen fire
Its so very easy to have a fire in your kitchen. You can forget a pan you have left on the stove and the phone rings or you get distracted and leave something to boil dry. If you are still home and know what to do you have time to deal with the fire and prevent it from becoming your whole house on fire! While extinguishing a kitchen fire can be quite simple when it is small - you can very easily get burnt so use a fire blanket or fire extinguisher after reading the instructions first!
Dry Cooking Fires
A dry cooking fire is when you leave a pan on the stove and the water or moisture boils out of the pan and the food left in the pan scorches, producing smoke. Usually there is little damage caused except to the surrounding area due to the heat. There may also be a residue left and an odour but these should be fairly easy to clean up.
Grease or Oil Fires
A grease fire is when oil or grease type foods are heated and catch fire such as with deep frying or when fat or oil spills on to the heating element or has been left to accumulate. Grease fires usually cause a lot of damage as there can be open flames that extend to surrounding cupboards, curtains or other combustible items. If unnoticed, a grease fire can quickly become a major house fire, engulfing the entire kitchen, adjacent rooms or even the roof-space.
Oven Fires
In an oven fire the fire is usually contained in the oven, which is designed for high heat anyway. The oven fire usually self-suffocates or are easily extinguished - don't attempt to remove the burning foods in the oven, keep the oven door closed, turn off the oven and the fire should go out due to the lack of oxygen.
In all cases of fire, make sure everyone evacuates the house. Call your local fire service emergency number (000 in Australia). If the fire is still small, you can use a fire extinguisher or fire blanket to try and put it out. But if the fire gets beyond your control, get everyone out of the house, closing all of the doors behind you, and wait for the fire brigade to arrive.
You might be able to extinguish grease fires on the stove in several different ways. The simplest way is to place a fire blanket (or lid) on the pan and the fire should suffocate - but be very careful not to burn yourself. A fire extinguisher can be used to extinguish a grease fire but MAKE SURE you have a suitable fire extinguisher and read the instructions - getting too close to the fire with a pressurised fire extinguisher can spread the fire, use with caution! Fire extinguishers can also make a lot of mess - try a fire blanket as your first option if you have one.
Once you have put the fire out, don't forget to turn off all of the burners and oven.
NEVER, NEVER put water on a grease fire! Water will splatter the grease and dramatically increase the size of the fire. You will easily get burned!
NEVER try to carry a kitchen fire outside. It will be far too hot to carry and you will be fanning the fire making it larger, spreading it over the entire area and very likely burn yourself.
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