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What to Do If Flames Suddenly Break Out
in Your Kitchen
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| Harry Smith: |
Early Show
consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen here with some important
safety tips. Good morning.
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| Susan Koeppen: |
Good morning,
Harry. Cooking fires are the leading cause of home fires in
the United States. So, we are about to show you the do's and
dont's of handling a grease fire.
In just minutes an entire house can go up in flames, and most
of those fires start right here in the kitchen. Cooking fires
cause more than 480 fire deaths each year, and more than $900
million in property damage. Grease fires that get out of
control are one of the main culprits.
To see first hand just how out of control they can get we went
to the State Farm Building Technology Research Lab outside of
Chicago.
Do most people know how to handle a kitchen fire?
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| John Donovan: |
I would say not many people know
how to handle a kitchen fire and what to do if it were to
start.
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| Susan: |
State Farm researcher John
Donovan is an expert in grease fires. With firefighters
standing by he helped us set a pan on fire to show us what not
to do in a kitchen fire.
You might think water is the best defense, but not when it
comes to a grease fire. Just watch what happens when John
throws a small cup of water on the pan. The flames double in
size almost instantly.
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| John: |
We threw probably an ounce and a
half of water on that fire, and you saw the flare-up we got
from that. Absolutely the worst thing you can do to a grease
fire is throw water of any sort on it...any amount...anything.
No water.
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| Susan: |
And here's what happens when John
tries to smother the fire with a wet towel. Again, the fire
becomes more intense.
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| John: |
The other hazards are you may try
to put the towel on there and actually pull the pan off the
stove. Then you've got burning oil on the floor, most likely
you've got it on whoever was trying to throw the towel on. so
you're just causing more problems than you're trying to solve.
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| Susan: |
Even using a fire extinguisher
that is water based can have disastrous results. Just look,
the flames shoot to the ceiling.
What you need is a dry chemical fire extinguisher specifically
designed to deal with grease. You can see here how it puts out
the flames in a matter of seconds.
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| John: |
So basically, you pull the pin,
you squeeze the trigger, and you're aiming at the base of the
fire. You want to put that fire out at the base. If you put it
up high, the chemical falls on top of the fire and doesn't do
a bit of good.
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| Susan: |
Here is something else you can
do. If the flames are small enough, carefully put a lid on the
pan and turn off the heat.
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| John: |
Don't try and move the pan. Many
people get burns or start fires elsewhere as they're trying to
take that pan and get it outside.
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| Susan: |
And once that lid is on, don't
remove it. Watch what happens when John does just that.
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| John: |
Even if you've turned that burner
off, that pan is holding the heat, the oil is holding the
heat. It's going to light again.
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| Susan: |
If a grease fire is left alone,
even for a few minutes, your whole kitchen can go up in
flames. Watch what happens when we let this pan burn. Within
30 seconds the flames reach the vent. At one minute the
cabinets are on fire. Two minutes - the stove and cabinets are
fully engulfed, and flames are reaching the ceiling.
At three minutes, fire fighters come in to knock the fire
down.
From the time that fire starts, how long do you have to
realistically try to put it out on your own?
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| John: |
Once the fire lights, you have 30
seconds to a minute of opportunity, probably. You know, in 30
seconds you have a small flame, probably about this high. But
after a minute you're starting to get flames almost as high as
the cabinet. At two minutes we've started to engulf the
cabinets, so it's way beyond at that point. So, realistically,
if you can get it within the first 30 seconds - say you were
standing in the room when it happened, you could probably get
a lid on it and put it out.
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| Susan: |
And if you do have a fire in your
home in the kitchen, or anywhere in the home, make sure you
call 911 before you really try to handle things on your own so
it doesn't get out of control.
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| Harry: |
The thing is, with the lid
though, was amazing. Put the lid on there, you go lift the
lid....frooooom!
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| Susan: |
Keep that lid on there if you're
going to put the lid on.
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| Harry: |
Alright. Here are standard fire
extinguishers.
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| Susan: |
OK, so something you should have
in your home in the kitchen, nearby, are fire extinguishers.
So if you're going to have something small, like this - this
is a traditional fire extinguisher - look on the front. Make
sure it says A,B,C so you know it will work on everything in
your home: wood, paper, grease, electrical equipment. And this
goes for $20. That's not too bad.
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| Harry: |
OK
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| Susan: |
This one is specifically made for
the kitchen. It's smaller. It's white, you can put it in the
corner. People probably won't notice that you even have a fire
extinguisher sitting out. Some people are worried about that.
They don't want a big, red one in their kitchen. This goes for
$15 and this is good for grease, this is good for electrical
equipment.
Something else which is made by First Alert...this is
something called "Tundra." It's actually a spray bottle. A lot
of people are really intimidated by pulling the pin and trying
to figure out how you use the fire extinguisher. $15. All you
do is spray it. So, yes, for grease fires. You can use this on
wood, grease fires, electrical equipment - you got it.
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| Harry: |
Susan Koeppen, thanks so much. |
