Kitchen Fire – What to do if a fire breaks out?
A kitchen fire doesn’t just cause extensive damage to your home, many kitchen fires also result in death or injuries, especially when trying to put out the fire.
It is therefore very important to know how to prevent kitchen fires from occurring and what to do in the unfortunate event if a fire does break out.
Kitchen fires, while cooking or heating food, are a common cause of home fires in Ireland.
All it takes is a moment of distraction e.g. answering a phone or a doorbell, attending to a crying child, being careless with kitchen appliances or leaving a tea towel next to a frying pan – it takes very little for an accident to happen.
What to do if a pan catches fire…
There is no such thing as a safe fire. It’s better for you to prevent fire than to fight it. Tackling fire is a job best left to professional firefighters as small looking pan fire can in a split second turn your kitchen into an inferno. The video above shows how quickly this can happen.
Kitchen Fire Emergency tips
- Immediately turn off the stove, but only if it is safe to do so
- Never move the burning pan.
- If you have a fire in the oven or the microwave, close the door or keep it closed, and turn off the oven. Don’t open the door! The lack of oxygen will suffocate the flames.
- If your oven continues to smoke like a fire is still going on in there, get out and call 112 or 999.
- Never use water on a chip-pan or oil fire. Water makes burning oil flare up and spreads the fire.
- Don’t swat at a fire with a towel, apron, or other clothing. You’re likely to fan the flames and spread the fire.
- Do not try to put out a chip-pan fire yourself. Get everyone out of the house, close the door behind you if it is safe to do so, and call 112 or 999 (Emergency Fire Brigade). Make sure everybody in your family knows how to get out of the house safely in case of a fire. Practise your fire escape route.
Once the fire is out and it is safe, report the fire to your insurer as soon as possible and photograph the damage before anything is moved. You can call in a professional loss assessor like us at the same time. We have helped many home and business owners with their claims; read some of our case studies and testimonials.