Don’t put water on a grease fire.
The Chatham-Kent Fire Department (CKFD) wants to get that word out to as many people as possible, and made it the focus of fire prevention week from Oct. 6-12.
CKFD personnel delivered the message to students throughout Chatham-Kent over the course of the week, and staged a display for local media Oct. 10.
Scott Sproule, of the CKFD fire prevention division, reminds people to smother a grease fire to take away the oxygen. Throwing water on a grease fire causes a huge flare up.
Sproule described the result of throwing water on a grease fire as “very dramatic. The fire gets into the kitchen cupboards very quickly.”
According to a CKFD release, more home fires start in the kitchen than anywhere else. In 2011, cooking was involved in an estimated 156,300 home fires that caused more than 470 deaths, 5390 injuries, and $1 billion in property damage in North America.
Sproule said it doesn’t take much to get a grease fire going.
“The ignition point of grease is about 400C. That can be achieved even on your stove’s low setting. It just takes longer,” he said. “The grease will self-ignite at that temperature.”
Sproule said if you have a grease fire on the stove, smother it by putting a lit on the pot or pan, turn the burner off and leave it to cool off. Taking off the lid while the grease is still hot will just allow it to re-ignite.
