Besides nicking a finger or suffering a small pan burn while roasting potatoes, cooking isn’t a dangerous business. But you can never be too careful and must be prepared for the unexpected. So what should you do if your cooking oil catches fire?
Therefore, water is never a good option. Usually cooking oil is very resistant to combustion, but grease can combust if the oil starts boiling and smoking, which happens around 450°F.
Of course, it is best to be safe rather than sorry and always use a thermometer to keep checking the mixture temperature. Also, if you smell something acrid, or see the smoke, immediately go and switch the burner down.
But in case the worst does happen, there the list of things you must do:
• Turn the Heat Off – Turn the knob down, or go to the gas source and switch it off in case the stove is too hot. But don’t try to move the container as you can spill the burning oil on yourself.
• Cover the Pot – Use a metal lid to cut the air supply, which would mean that the fire will not have any oxygen to breath and thus would die off quickly
• Pour on Baking Soda – If the fire is contained and small, baking soda will extinguish grease fires.
• Use a Class B Dry Chemical Fire Extinguisher – In case the fire has got big, use the fire extinguisher as your last resort.
• Get Out and Call 911 – And if even that doesn’t work, don’t be a hero. Go and call 911 immediately.
DO NOT do the following:
• Do Not Use Water – As intuitive as it might seem, pouring water on oil causes it to splash and spread the fire even more. The water will get vaporized, and the steam will also take burning grease particles with it, increasing the fire.
• Do Not Throw Anything Else On the Fire – Using flour etc. instead of baking soda will not do the trick either.
Have any other tips on extinguishing oil fires? Share them with us in the comments’ section below!