Kitchens are the number one place for a fire to start at home. I have an electrical jobs that take a while to start up and I stupidly walked away for no more than a minute while waiting to heat a saucepan. Unfortunately, I'd switched on the wrong hob and a towel touching that hob caught fire. Stupidity! Fortunately, being the calm-headed sort, it wasn't too serious and I learned the following lessons should this happen to anyone else
- Don't panic! The good thing about kitchens is that a small fire won't usually spread. If it is large, you'd better be evacuating anyway. Otherwise, if things burn for another 10 seconds, nothing bad will happen. Stop and take a moment to plan what to do
- Personal safety first. If it is a large fire, your clothes might catch fire or if it is spreading fast, get out of there and get the experts to deal with it.
- Wet towels are your friend. You probably don't have a fire extinguisher nearby but every kitchen has a towel. Drench it in water and use it to cover whatever is on fire, including other towels, chip pans etc. (Much better and safer than splashing water about... don't do that). Towels are probably the most effective way of cooling a fire you'll have handy
- Lids and makeshift covers. If wet towels aren't appropriate or you can't immediately get one, put a lid over your burning food or get a pan or wok to cover the fire, the aim being to starve the oxygen. This is easier than getting a wet towel over the target for fire-adverse people but usually isn't as effective as a wet towel unless you can seal off the fire and cut off the air
- Switch on the extractor fan. Assuming you've contained the problem, you want to minimize the amount of smoke getting around the place. The smell lingers!
- Prevention is better than cure. Don't leave a hob on unattended is what I've learned. My punishment is to tell the world of my stupidity and if one other person learns something, it is worthwhile =)
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