Table of Contents
What causes a grease fire?
A grease fire happens when your cooking oil becomes too hot. When heating, oils first start to boil, then they’ll start smoking, and then they’ll catch on fire. Most vegetable oils have a smoking point around 450°F, while animal fats like lard or goose fat will start smoking around 375°F.
How do you put out a grease fire?
Small, contained grease fires can usually be handled without assistance from the fire department. Always avoid splashing burning grease by moving the pan or using water. This can keep the fire from spreading. Use a metal lid or cookie sheet to seal off air, or extinguish the fire with salt or baking soda.
What type of fire is grease?
Class B: Flammable liquids such as alcohol, ether, oil, gasoline and grease, which are best extinguished by smothering.
Is an oil fire the same as a grease fire?
Not all fires are the same, and they should not be treated the same. Grease fires are often associated with kitchen fires and they occur when the oil gets too hot when cooking. Oil will first begin to boil, then it will start to smoke, and then catch fire.
What should you not do to a grease fire?
In the event of a grease fire, NEVER do any of the following: NEVER move the pot. You could splash burning oil on yourself – or spread the fire. NEVER use water. Water and oil don’t mix. NEVER pour baking products on the fire. NEVER attempt to smother the fire with flammable materials.
How long does it take for a grease fire to start?
A grease fire occurs when the oil becomes too hot. When cooking with oil, first it will boil, then it will smoke, and then it will catch on fire. It could take less than 30 seconds for the smoking oil to catch fire, so never leave your pot or pan unattended. Keep the grease at the recommended temperature.
What do you put on a kitchen oil fire?
If a grease fire starts: Cover the flames with a metal lid or cookie sheet. Turn off the heat source. If it’s small and manageable, pour baking soda or salt on it to smother the fire. As a last resort, spray the fire with a Class B dry chemical fire extinguisher. Do not try to extinguish the fire with water.
Can I use flour to put out a grease fire?
Do NOT use flour on a grease fire. While sometimes baking soda can extinguish a small grease fire (though not if the fire is too overwhelming), flour cannot and should not be used. Due to chemical risk of contaminating your kitchen, putting out a grease fire with your fire extinguisher should be the last resort.
How common are grease fires?
Statistics reveal that nearly 5,000,000 cooking fires occur annually in the home. Of these fires, grease fires are the most dangerous and are responsible for 1 in every 5 home fire deaths.
What happens when you throw water on a grease fire?
What Happens If You Add Water to a Grease Fire? Even a small amount of water dropped into a pan or deep fryer filled with burning oil will sink to the bottom, become superheated and erupt. Water molecules are polar, and oils are nonpolar. As a result, oils are repelled by water molecules.
Why do grease fires explode with water?
If you throw water on a pot of hot burning grease, the water sinks for a moment into the grease, then rapidly turns to expanding steam. The expanding steam blows the grease into the air where it combines with oxygen. When a flammable liquid is atomized in the air, it becomes explosive.
Can you use a fire extinguisher with a grease fire?
Use a chemical fire extinguisher on the grease fire. Not all can be used on a grease fire, but the ABC dry chemical extinguisher is best.
What is the most flammable metal?
Alkali metals: highly combustible metals that react with water to generate hydrogen, and are easily ignited; examples include sodium, potassium, lithium, rubidium and cesium.
What is K class fire extinguisher?
Class K fire extinguishers are more effective in extinguishing cooking fires. NFPA revised this standard in 1998, specifying that “Fire extinguishers provided for the protection of cooking appliances that use combustible cooking media (vegetable or animal oils and fats) shall be listed and labeled for Class K fires.”.
How do you put out a fire in your home?
Smother the flames with baking soda. Avoid flour or sugar, which can lead to a dynamite-like explosion. Reach for a dry chemical fire extinguisher (a class K extinguisher will also work, but these are usually found in commercial kitchens).
How can you tell if a fire is a grease fire?
If you’re asking how you know without having that information, then it’s an assumption based on where the fire is located (on/in/near a cooking appliance) an the consistency of the smoke, as grease and oil fires tend to produce thicker, darker smoke that paper or wood fires.
Can salt put out a grease fire?
If there’s no lid nearby, douse the fire with plenty of salt or baking soda. Salt will smother the fire almost as well as covering it with a lid, while baking soda chemically extinguishes it. Avoid using flour or baking powder, which can explode in the flames instead of snuffing them out.
