Preventing and Putting Out Grease Fires

7/7/2020 (Permalink)

Cooking is fun... until it isn't.

Kitchen fires make up a huge percentage of house fires every year, and grease fires are one of the most dangerous types. If you cook at home (and who doesn’t?), you need to know what to do to prevent and put out a grease fire if it happens to you. The tips below could just save your life.

How to Prevent a Grease Fire

The key to preventing grease fires is being clean and being attentive. As long as you’re a conscientious home cook, you should have no problem preventing a grease fire from becoming an issue.

First, make sure your stovetop is clean and cool before you start cooking. If there are any spills, wipe them up before you start heating anything.

You also need to know your cooking oils. Some oils can take more heat than others when cooking. If you see smoke coming from you cooking oil, remove the pan carefully from the heat source so that the oil can cool down a bit before continuing.

Avoid heating oils too much before dropping food into the pan. When you do put food into the pan, use a utensil that allows you to place the food carefully onto the cooking surface without a big splash, like a pair of tongs.

If you’re deep frying your food, make sure to use a container that’s big enough to fry your food without spilling oil. If you’ve never deep fried anything before, don’t go it alone – have an experienced cook show you the ropes.

If you do spill oil, carefully clean the spill up as soon as possible. You may need to remove food from the pan, turn off the heat and wait, but that inconvenience is preferable to a fire.

Finally, do not add water to grease – you’ll likely cause oil to splatter everywhere, which might cause a fire but will definitely cause a mess.

How to Put Out a Grease Fire

First, turn off the heat. You don’t want to make things worse and you definitely need things to start cooling down.

Whatever you do, DO NOT pour water on the grease fire. This might be your first instinct, but it’s the worst thing you can do. Water and oil do not mix – instead of putting out the fire, you will cause flaming oil to splatter everywhere, making things much, much more dangerous.

Instead, try to smother the flame with another pot or baking pan. If you can’t do that, dump lots of baking soda on the fire. If the flame gets out of control, get out and call the fire department – they’re here to help. And if you need help restoring your kitchen after your grease fire, give us a call at 716-674-1103 – we’re here to help as well!