Kitchen fires, why so common and what can I do?

Posted on by Fire Girl 411

In the United States cooking is the most common cause of fire. Most municipalities report the kitchen as the leading room of origin. We often cook on mental automatic; not paying attention to the task at hand, multi-tasking, cooking while sleepy, or hindered by alcohol or medication.  Children are doing homework, the television is running, laundry and other tasks take our attention away for a moment. What ever the distraction; a stovetop fire can occur in an instant.  Most resident involved in kitchen fires say something on the line of…”I don’t know what happened.  I looked a way for a moment.”   Here are some simple tips to help keep you and your family safe.

Alway stay in the kitchen while cooking on the stovetop.

Keep the stovetop clean. No grease, or flammable items on burner area. Keep cloth pot holders and dish towels off the stovetop.  Also clean the pans beneath the burners. They do collect oils, grease and burnt food. This can all catch fire.

Never store a pot of oil on the back burner. (A la Grandma’s infamous cast iron pot of used oil, saved for the next time). It too, can accidentally catch fire.

Always stay in the home while cooking in the oven.  If you must leave for a short time, turn the oven off and resume when you return.

Keep a 3 ft. rule.  The rule is keep a kid and pet-free zone around the range and oven when cooking. Little hands and puppy dog tails, can get injured or cause a trip hazard, to the cook.

Keep  a cookie sheet, tight fitting fitting lid, or better yet, a fire extinguisher handy.

If there is a fire in a pot DO NOT 1.  Move the pot. Remember you have flaming liquid and it may spill.   DO NOT 2. Pour water on the pot.  Remember water and oil do not mix.  As the water sinks into the oil it expands converting into steam at a rate of 1603:1.  It creates a volcanic looking effet.  This can throw hot flaming grease on you, or rapidly spread the fire.

Recommended Actions to take include, call 9-1-1 first and sound the alarm so every one knows knows to evacuate. You should already have an escape plan, everyone from oldest to youngest knows where to meet outside the home. If you can safely extinguish the fire use your handy fire extinguisher.  Remember: pull, aim, squeeze and sweep.  Pull the pin. Aim the nozzle at the base of the fire (that which is burning) squeeze the handle and sweep the chemical back and forth across the base of the fire.  Then evacuate the kitchen and  close the door!

Let the firefighters check to be sure the fire is out.

 

Fire—where to go, how to get there; part 1

Posted on by Fire Girl 411

By BB

What to do if you smell smoke, see a fire or think there may be a fire in your building?

The reasonable answer would be, ‘I’d go outside’. That is true, to a point. There will be those who will leave out of a sense of self-preservation, but usually it is due to the deafening sound of the fire alarm. Others will go look for the fire, and most will choose to ignore the hints of a crisis in favor of denial (if denial is at all possible).

Case in point: As a firefighter I entered a restaurant at lunch time with my crew to a ‘smell of smoke’ report.  About 150 people were sitting there eating their very nice steak and salad lunches.  One lady looked up and said,” I thought I smelled smoke, do you think we should leave?”

“Well, you might want to step outside until we figure out what is going on,” my captain replied.

“Check please,”  words every manager does not want to hear.

We proceed to the bar area, where the acrid smell of an electrical based fire was evident.  The bartender was dutifully manning his post making drinks as he explained his worry.  We advised the staff  to evacuate the restaurant as we took temperature reading at the post in the center of the bar, where all the electrical wiring ran down from the second story and four plugs and two wall sconces were wired.  Yes, there’s a fire.

The benefit, no one was hurt and the bartender was completely vindicated for his call us, despite the manager’s objections. The risk, obvious. A minute, maybe two, that fire would have broke though both the post and the electrical room upstairs. This room looked more like  high pile storage than a clear unobstructed path for quick access to the utilities. There were boxes of paper supplies, linens, old book-keeping papers and all sorts of miscellaneous clutter in the room where all the electrical panels live.

One firefighter was sent to shut the power off at the breakers,while the rest of us opened the pillar and put out the fire.  The firefighter upstairs had to wrestle through the boxes to the panels in order to isolate the power.

Meanwhile, additional fire crews were assisting the staff in evacuating the restaurant.  Some folks were still a bit hesitant to leave their meals.

Where to go?  The staff had an adequate plan as to where they would do a head count, but they had never planned to actually ‘have a fire’.  What to do with the patrons?  Fire crews had to advise the people where to go, off the cuff, as it were because the staff had not been adequately trained.  Our largest obstacle, on this little fire, was complacency.

Next week; how to create a proper fire safety plan.