This is going to be more of a life pro tip, but trying to reach the largest audience here.
Just had a frantic neighbour knocking at my door saying there is a fire in her oven.
I was over there in under 60 seconds with the fire extinguisher. There was a pot of oil on fire wedged between the element and the rack. No way to quickly and safely remove it, so I blasted it.
If I had tried to remove the pan, it’s likely it would have ended up spilling burning oil everywhere and making the situation much worse. Now they just have a house full of dust to clean.
Will replace our extinguisher today and am considering buying a few more to gift this Christmas.
I have one rated for grease fires in the kitchen and one rated for Magic Computer Smoke next to the electronics.
(I live in a small apartment, so two is probably already overkill).
Also, second pro-tip from a Firefighter friend: Regularly pick up your Fire Extinguisher and flip it upside down and tap the bottom like you’re trying to get ketchup out of a glass bottle. Often the “dust” inside the extinguisher can settle for too long and when you go to use it… nothing comes out because it is all compacted on the bottom of the Extinguisher. So occasionally making sure everything is loose and ready to go is key. He suggested to me every few months to do it.
Also, remember all the stuff that kills small fires: salt, baking soda, a wet rag, a sponge, a bigger pot blocking the oxygen. Many people freak out for a minute while the fire grows out of control.
Assess the situation, but a good plan now is better than a perfect plan in a minute. No don’t pour water on oil or electric fires. Use the baking soda, salt, or pot holder that’s right next to the stove.
Solid suggestions!
I don’t know why it gave me a memory of the server room at a building I worked at. If there was a fire, you had to leave the room immediately because the main fire suppression device was something that pumped all the oxygen out of the room, depriving the fire of the oxygen that allows it to burn.
Meaning, if you hung around in that room after the fire alarm went off, you’d have a good chance of getting stuck in there and dying of asphyxiation.
Good ol’ halon systems!
For a fire in a pot or pan, having a well-fitting lid ready, and sliding it on, is most effective. Make it a habit as you get out the pan to get out a lid that completely covers it, and put it within reach.
Edit to add: I have a fire extinguisher on the kitchen wall as well, because sometimes the fire isn’t contained/containable. When I replaced my old unused one, I took it outside and practiced with it until it was empty, which was fun and educational.
Not flour, though! A friend once had food in a pot on the stove catch fire, and she knew about putting salt or baking soda on oily fires, but in haste, grabbed the flour, instead. On the bright side, the resulting explosion did put the fire out by consuming the oxygen, but it cracked the kitchen window.
Good tip!
One beside the bed, one in the kitchen, and one near the front door.
For oven fires turn off the oven and shut the door. An oven is a fire box, it will contain the blaze. The oven probably isn’t completely airtight but it should be close enough that the fire will use up the oxygen and extinguish itself quickly (the vent will pull hot air out but not let cooler air back in). Let it sit for a while and cool after you can’t see flames anymore to make sure the fire doesn’t reignite when you open the door and let fresh air in. Fire can damage the elements and seals so the oven needs serviced before being used again but so long as the fire was only inside the oven it should be repairable.
Make sure your fire extinguisher has the right rating for the place it is stored. For the oven grease fire, and most kitchen fires, a class K extinguisher would have been most appropriate because it is designed to put out cooking oil fires with minimal splashing.
https://www.nfpa.org/news-blogs-and-articles/blogs/2022/08/26/fire-extinguisher-ratings
By law, apartments like mine should have one, so I guess there may be one somewhere. If there would actually be a fire, I wouldn’t know where to look though
Fire extinguishers are worthless to most. Now hear me out. Most fire extinguishers go bad after ~a year of immobility and tend to be kept for several years after. When a fire breaks out, every second matters and fetching a worthless fire extinguisher costs time that no one has.
If you buy someone a fire extinguisher, you have to take on a degree of stewardship and explain the issue. You become fire extinguisher tech support. Set a calendar for them to periodically turn their fire extinguisher or it’s a paperweight. My father burned down the kitchen in an oil fire but luckily had a hand-me-down fire extinguisher to frustratedly shake for a minute. If you give, expect to educate.
Good tips, but FWIW ours has been sitting around for probably over a decade and it worked just fine
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Every fire extinguisher we use at my workplace has to be recertified yearly, even the brand spanking new ones
Fire guy doing it has told me that even modern ones still can go bad from just sitting there for a year
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I have three. Thanks for spreading awareness. Everyone needs a few around the house.
I’ve never actually had a fire extinguisher before, I should buy one.
I have one in my car because it’s required by law (Belgium). I don’t have one in my house and I don’t know anyone who does.
I do have multiple smoke detectors and carbonmonoxide detectors. The smoke detectors are required by law but there are still people who don’t have them. Last night a family of 6 died in a fire and they apparently didn’t have smoke detectors.I’ve been working from home for a while and the amount of people on conference calls who have dying smoke detectors that beep every other minute is too damn high.
I have one in the kitchen, garage and utility (furnace) room. 2 were given to me by my insurance agent! The 3rd one I bought for my garage because, duh!
Nice! Hopefully you never use them, but just like an iguana it’s better to have them and not need them.
That reminds me to shake my iguana
I don’t have one. I should get one.
I have one standing in the middle of the apartment where it is accessible from every room.
That’s got to be exhausting, you should really let it sit down
One in each kitchen under the sink and one in the garage near my workbench.
Currently don’t have one (and should have), but I do know where the nearest fire extinguisher in my apartment’s corridor is.
I have lived in my apartment for two and a half years, and I’ve not seen someone come to test or check on the Fire Extinguishers once.
I personally wouldn’t trust them to work in a pinch, which is why I have my own. Hopefully your apartment managers are more diligent.
You can’t really test a fire extinguisher as it loses pressure when you discharge it.
As I pointed out in another comment, leaving them untouched and not turning them over to get the dust inside the can moving around and not stuck settled at the bottom is a real issue. To “test” them you basically ensure that the pressure is still where it needs to be and turn them over to get stuff unstuck from the bottom. That’s all I was referring to.
The fact that no one has touched them in two and a half years leads me to believe that all the dust is settled at the bottom of the extinguisher, and when an emergency arises, they won’t function properly.
If you store extinguisher where fire goes you might not be able to get when fire. Careful.
I have one in the kitchen, and one in the vehicle I drive to work. I haven’t had to use either one. Yet.
In every room, I have either a fire extinguisher or a bucket of sand. I am biased in favor of the sand though.
Don’t learn the hard way that fire extinguishers have expiration dates. Don’t be like me.
I have one in my pantry. Can’t remember how long I’ve had it so guessing I should probably check it
