These flat baking trays are dangerous

[Hagrod]

This only happened in the last hour and I am still shaking. I decided to make some cookies and used a Lakeland baking tray I got as a Christmas present. It is flat, with one side raised for you to grip and seemed oversized and awkward for the oven shelf. Similar to the one below. Anyway, after ten minutes in the oven I decided to check on my biscuits and wasn't concentrating fully as I did so, causing about three of the biscuits to slide off the edge of the tray. One fell right into the flame of the gas oven and caught fire. I managed to turn the oven off and somehow (god knows how I didn't burn myself) swatted at the flame with a tea towel, it went out but then reignited. I managed to grab some tongs and get the bsicuit out of the oven. It was very scary and I feel awfully shook up. That baking tray has gone straight in the bin. Please beware of these edgeless trays, I don't think they are safe to make small goods on at all.

I once set my kitchen on fire melting chocolate on a Tupperware lid under the grill and forgetting about it (was a lot younger!) shall we ban Tupperware in case someone is as stupid as I was?

You said yourself you weren't concentrating.
It's not exactly rocket science that if there's no edge things could slide off

I melted my chopping board when it crept along the work surface and ended up above a lit gas hob.

Safest all round to ban gas altogether

Microwaves are just as bad, my dd cremated a baked potato in ours. She did the same with a bread bun she wanted heating up.

It’s not concentrating when cooking, not the baking sheet that’s the problem here.

I've been using flat baking trays for decades without setting fire to anything. However, I've never had a gas oven.

Oh dear, sorry you had a scare, OP.

Unfortunately I agree with the others that it was user error... but hopefully it helps to serve as a lesson for future baking/oven use. I did something similar over Christmas with an overloaded roasting dish and a tea towel (rather than the safer option of oven gloves which would have gripped the dish better)... I felt very silly and was lucky not to have burnt myself with hot oil! A lesson I'll remember...

I decided to check on my biscuits and wasn't concentrating fully as I did so, causing about three of the biscuits to slide off the edge of the tray.

You are the defective equipment, not the tray.

Now, now - you did make me laugh out loud though!

Yeah, I've never had an issue using baking sheets. I don't think I've ever even dropped anything off one of them.

I guess the message is to pay attention when you're literally playing with fire?

I think the bigger issue here is that someone thought it was acceptable to buy you a BAKING TRAY for CHRISTMAS. They would immediately be removed from my Christmas card list.

I think this is just a case of a daft mistake really. I’m very clumsy naturally so I’m extra careful in the kitchen because I’ve had a few near misses. Maybe if you’re using a flat baking tray you could turn the oven off before removing stuff? That way any dropped items aren’t going into the fire and can be retrieved later once cool.

Swatting at a flame with a tea towel is far more dangerous than a cookie falling off into the oven (which is designed to contain hot things and fire)

as others have said, please think through how you might deal with over fires, pan fires, scalds etc in your kitchen so that in future you can calmly and safely deal with it without thinking

An oven is probably the safest place to have something catch fire. The oven will literally contain it.

Switch off the gas, close the door, and wait until the fire is out and everything is cold to clean up the debris.

You’re being needlessly dramatic about a pretty small issue.

Maybe the shock you've had today will prompt you to concentrate in future.

I'm always setting things on fire in the kitchen get yourself a fire blanket OP

I set fire to my pull buoy (for swimming) the other day when I left it on the still turned on gas hob. That was a nice smell!

They are DANGEROUS I tell you.

I wouldn't buy one because this would be the inevitable outcome in this house and I'm just not cavalier or chill enough to walk away from the oven while something burns to cinders.

There's a flat baking sheet in my cupboard that's older than me! Somehow more than one generation of my family has survived.

What's the saying about a workman and blaming tools?

You could have just left the biscuit to burn itself out in the oven. Probably safer than trying to swat it out with a tea towel.

🤣🤣. The raised edge goes at the back to stop things falling off. It's your fault, not the baking sheet's

This is the reason that bags of peanuts say "May contains nuts" and chainsaws say "don't use the chainsaw to cut your hair".

It seems an awful waste to throw it away when it's so easy to avoid any repetition by concentrating. If you really don't want it, give it to a charity shop.

wasn't concentrating fully as I did so - this is the dangerous part. The tray is fine.