OMG I just had a small fire in my kitchen - hand hold please

[onebyonetheythenleft]

I put a pan on to heat up. turned around to see it smoking like crazy. The pan had nothing in it. I then put a small amount of oil in it but it continued to smoke like mad. I took it to the sink and the whoosh it went right up. Ran the water on it and it died straight away but OMG it has scared the shit out of me. How quick it took. Nothing damaged luckily, just the smell of smoke. Used a different pan to cook.

It has really scared me and shaken me up. How quickly it took and I was powerless.

Feeling quite tearful about it, I could have burned down the house.

I don't know why a dry pan did that ?

just need a hand hold x

Never made bananes flambes? Or with other fruit? It is delicious and easy with butter and cognac that you heat thoroughly with the fruit and then light it, but you can set off quite a fire if you overdo it with the alcohol.

Just put a lid on it and extinguish the flame source.

It is good practice for learning how to control a fire and not be afraid of one.
We do this every Christmas eve.

@Haggisfish3

i think partly because cooking is much more diverse these days.

i think in those days many many families had chip pans & used them a lot. One advert would really hit home. Not so much these days.

How do you put out each type of fire then ? I always thought a wet tea towel - but is that not correct for all fires?

It must be nice to be so perfect.

I've done some stupid things with the cooker. Set fire to a couple of oven gloves. Even managed to singe the front of my hair once. 🙄 All you can do now is learn from it.

We had a holiday chalet go right up in flames from a guest not attending to the chips cooking in a pan. He didn't use the fire blanket and chucked water on it. Whoosh up the wall and burned out the upstairs floor boards. You should ring your local fire service as many will do free home inspections, and provide alarms, blankets and extinguishers as well as giving education on what to do in a fire.

Wet but not sopping towel works for smothering a fire where you can't get close enough safely to put a lid on it to cut out the oxygen - it's easier to lob from three foot away over it than a lid - or where the burning oil has been spilled because somebody has picked it up and dropped it.

Definitely not right for a smoking kettle or other small appliance that's plugged in, though, as electricity and water is a very bad idea - that's power off and retreat. Or retreat and hit the circuit breaker/consumer board/fusebox/whatever people think it's called if it's a safer route, especially if that takes you towards the exit.

If in doubt, though, the best course of action is to shut the door behind you and get the hell out, leaving somebody else to deal with it via 999. It's certainly better than running around with a flaming frying pan, chucking burning oil over the place before somebody else comes along and has to put out three main sites of fire and has a lovely melted patch of kitchen lino to show for it <side eyes DP>

I'm lucky in that my response to things like this has always been automatically dealing with it, rather than panicking or freezing - but that's likely due more to a shitty childhood making me more or less immune to most things that are scary for people, rather than any particularly positive personality traits. So the biggest reaction I have is 'Fuck' and then wanting to sit down with a cold beer afterwards (rarely get it, more's the pity).

This happened to me as a teen when my parents were away, I set the ceiling alight. It was terrifying and took a split second. Fortunately I was able to put it out quickly with minimal damage but it's made me very wary all my life. I also had to learn about how you put out fires depending on the source. I'm sorry this happened to you and understand how shaken you must feel. So now be prepared as you say you will

I think the other horror is hair straighteners. Years ago when my DD was a teen and I had a toddler, we went to a NYE party. DD was staying over at the party and toddler was struggling so I went home early with him. Walked in to a heavy burning smell. DD had left straighteners on bed. The duvet cover was smoking. If I'd not come home when I did, I would have lost my house. I am absolutely strict with them now. Immediately unplugged at the wall and double checked before I go out. Also always use a heat pad and now only have a pair that cut out after 30 mins. It was 12 years ago but I still shiver at how close we came to disaster!

My toaster has set on fire a few times. I put it in the garden until it calms down

I really glad that you are OK, OP!

I'm really happy that you will be buying a fire blanket and a fire extinguisher.

I've used a wrung out wet tea towel once. Like a blanket, it smothers the fire by excluding oxygen. The water is just in the tea towel to make it easier to handle and slightly heavier, I think. It's not there to put the fire out, and the water probably boils off before it can scatter oil by dripping on it.

Very frightening OP. Similar happened to me recently, the oil splashed onto the ignited hob and went up in a fireball. Fortunately it hit the extractor fan which stopped it. Took ages to stop shaking and worrying about the alternative outcomes. You'll be fine, just a bit more cautious in future.

Hi OP,

I'm really sorry you got a fright. Fire is very dangerous and your fear is sensible and right. I think it is very good that you asked on here, because that will help you learn good safety skills.

It would be good to look online for guides to fire safety so you can make sure you understand how to stay safe.

For this situation that you just experienced:

I think it is really best not to put an empty pan on a hot stove to heat up. You can either put in oil or water, but you do need to have something in the pan.

Then the oil or water will show you how hot the pan is and you can take action if you need to, by removing it from the heat before anything catches fire or boils dry.

If there is a fire, then you are absolutely right with your fire blanket idea. Pouring water on smoking oil will definitely make a big fire and might shoot buring oil all over your kitchen which will quickly set the whole kitchen on fire.

If you can't manage the fire blanket when you are panicking then it's also good to grab the pan and run into the garden with it.

If it all goes wrong and your house catches fire, then it's important to just run out of the house and call the fire brigade, because the fumes from burning paint can be very dangerous, especially if your house is old enough to have lead paint. It is better not to stay indoors and fight the fire unless it is a very small one. Fighting fire is a job for the fire brigade. If you don't have a phone on you, then you can run to a neighbour and ask them to call for you.

If you are doing deep fat frying, it is better to buy the machine for the job, rather than use a pot.

Hope that helps.

I can see why that really scared you OP.
I'm glad that it went out and you're ok.

This thread has been a good reminder for me OP, so thank you for sharing.

A family member who used to be a nurse in a burns unit, always told us, if you ever have oil in a pan on fire, DO NOT take it outside, as too often she had looked after people who had picked up a pan and opened the back door and the wind had blown the flame up the person's arm.

As PPs have said, throw a damp tea towel, fire blanket or lid on the pan.

A similar incident years ago is why I have a fire blanket on my kitchen wall. Hope you're ok, OP.

Yes to hair straighteners, imo they should be banned. I can't believe they don't have a hold-button feature like lawnmowers do. They just stay on!

The other one is electric blankets. A classmate of mine set her duvet on fire at boarding school. She'd left it on in the day and no one is in the boarding house in the daytime so the fire had time to progress a bit, damaged her belongings. Imagine if she'd been asleep in the bed...!