Cooking with oils and grease are an important part of making the family dinner.
But if not watched closely, they can destroy the family home.
Okotoks Bob Button built a makeshift kitchen that is on display at the Okotoks Fire Station to help show how to handle a grease fire as part of Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 4-10. The theme of the week is Serve Up Fire Safety in the Kitchen.
“I am going to demonstrate what to do if a grease fire happens and then I am going to demonstrate what not to do,” Button said. “And the devastating effects of what can happen if you put water on a grease fire.”
The water does the opposite of dousing the flames – it accelerates the fire.
“You’re going to burn your house down,” Button said matter-of-factly when asked what will happen if water is used.
Button started a grease fire on a portable stove in the kitchen and demonstrated what happens when water is used to try to attempt to put out the flames.
A somewhat small fire suddenly became huge – a rolling effect comes off the ceiling of the makeshift kitchen.
Another mistake is people grabbing the pot and running outside.
“What happens with burning grease and flames — where are you taking it? All the way through the house,” Button said. “You are spreading fire and flames all over the house. You are in a hurry, you’re not being gentle…”
The best solution: Put a lid on it.
“Take the lid, put it over the pot to smother the fire — as soon as the oxygen is gone the fire is out,” Button said. “And turn the burner off, of course.”
If an individual feels uneasy about putting a lid over the flames, a fire extinguisher could also be used to put out the fire.
Pouring baking soda over the fire also smothers the flames.
He said residents should then leave the home, make sure the door is shut, and call 9-1-1.
“An average fire, you have three to five minutes to get out of the house — that’s it,” Button said.
The makeshift kitchen was more bare bones than a bachelor’s pad cooking area — making it safer than your family home.
“This doesn’t have cooking shelves, books on shelves, curtains, no real combustibles — in a real house, you are going to have all those things that can catch on fire,” Button said.
The cause of most grease fires is cooks not paying the proper attention when preparing food.
“Whether it’s your cellphone, the TV is on, someone is knocking on the front door, or you sit down and fall asleep,” Button said. “You walk away and you forget about the pot on the stove.
“People get sidetracked and it doesn’t take long for things to get out of hand.”
Typically, during Fire Prevention Week students could possibly go to the fire station to see a demonstration in the makeshift kitchen.
But due to COVID-19 restrictions and physical distancing, instead a video has been made and will be placed on the Town of Okotoks website.
