Kitchen Fires

Even though the weather has been more like January then June, summer vacation will soon be upon us. Later this week, kids of all ages from the Forest Grove School District will turn in their last homework assignment, ride the bus home one last time, and be home again until September. For the older kids, especially if they are home without a parent, a summer responsibility might be to make their own meals. Hopefully when you talk to them about how to use the kitchen appliances you also consider safety a part of your chat.

Last week at the Fred Meyer Safety Fair, Cornelius Fire Department Lieutenant George Robards put on an excellent demonstration of how fast things can get out of hand in your kitchen. Using a standard sized cast iron skillet, George would heat up vegetable oil, simulating what happens when you leave the kitchen and stop paying attention to your cooking. Within minutes the oil would start to smoke eventually reaching a temperature so hot that the common cooking oil would ignite.

Small flames show up as the vegetable oil reaches it's automatic ignition temperature

Now a small fire in a pan can be a scary enough experience for most people. The key is to not react in the inappropriate way that can cause the small fire to get much larger. We all know that water can be an effective means of controlling some types of fire. Water does not work, and will actually make the fire conditions worse, when the fire involves a liquid such as vegetable oil. George continued his demonstration by carefully taking just one cup full of water and pouring it into the burning oil to show you the dangers of this often afterthought in an emergency.

The burning vegetable oil reacts violently when water is used to attempt to extinguish the fire

So what happened? At the time the vegetable oil ignited it was around 600 degrees. When you add the water, it instantly boils and the resulting steam explosion causes the vegetable oil to explode from the pan. This increases the surface area of the vegetable oil and can make for a very dangerous situation. Imagine the photo above inside your kitchen instead of the open air of the Fred Meyer parking lot, the damage to your home and the injuries to whoever puts the water on it would be devastating.

We offer these safety tips for your kitchen:

• Avoid wearing long sleeves and loose fitting clothes when you are cooking. These can drape into the burner and catch fire.
  
• Never leave the cooking unattended. Stay in the kitchen while you cook and pay attention to your cooking at all times.
  
• Keep the kitchen area clean, make sure that things that can burn like rags and food containers are well clear of things that get hot, like the toaster, coffee pot, and cook top.
  
• Before you start to cook make sure that you have a tight fitting lid and pot holder or oven mitt handy. If a fire happens in the pan, use a pot holder to carefully slide the pan lid into place (do not drop it). Turn the burner to the off position and call 9-1-1. Never attempt to carry a hot pan away from the cooking appliance.
  
• Have an ABC rated fire extinguisher ready to go in the kitchen. Talk to your family about how to use it and make sure that it is charged and accessible. Never use water on a grease fire.
  
• Even if you think the fire is out, call 9-1-1 and have us come check it out for you.