This week’s article is presented in response to several kitchen fires that have recently occurred in Murray, and in every case the fires were 100 percent preventable. That being so, the theme of this writing is: don’t leave food on the stove unattended.
To begin, each kitchen fire being addressed here involved food being prepared on an electric stove, and specifically cooking oil being heated in a pan. Now, you ask, “What’s wrong with doing that? Everybody does it.” And the answer is, NOTHING!  
The issue is cooking oil being heated on a stove UNATTENDED, and the oil being allowed to reach its flash point and/or ignition (or auto-ignition) temperature, and a fire starting with no one present to extinguish the fire timely. To help you understand this seemingly innocent, yet dangerous situation, I will explain a few fire facts concerning cooking oil and kitchen fires:
1. Cooking oils are flammable, but are obviously used safely in kitchens every day.  Typically, cooking oils only catch fire when exposed to extreme heat for certain periods of time.  
2. Some of the oils used for cooking are considered vegetable oils; however, don’t let the name “vegetable oil” fool you. Vegetable oils and all other cooking oils will burn if allowed to reach their respective ignition temperatures. Here are some of the commonly used cooking oils: peanut oil; safflower oil; soybean oil; grapeseed oil; canola oil; corn oil; olive oil; sesame seed oil and sunflower oil.
3. What is meant by “flash point”? In this case regarding cooking oils, flash point refers to the lowest temperature by which a cooking oil must be heated in order to form and release an ignitable mixture in air. When this mixture in air is exposed to a source of ignition, such as a spark or a flame, the ignitable mixture will produce a flash of fire – hence the term flash point.  With respect to cooking oils, flash point temperatures are usually within the range of 572°-626°F.
4. What is meant by “ignition or auto-ignition temperature”?  Again, in this case regarding cooking oils, ignition or auto-ignition refers to the minimum temperature by which a cooking oil must be heated to where, upon reaching such temperature, the oil will [automatically] ignite itself without a spark or a flame having to be present – hence the term ignition or auto-ignition. With respect to cooking oils, ignition or auto-ignition temperatures are usually within the range of 750°-815°F.
5. In the kitchen fires addressed here regarding Murray, as is the case involving 75 percent of all kitchen fires nationwide, the cause of the fires is cooking oil being left on a stove’s hot burner UNATTENDED, where the cooking oil is allowed to reach its ignition or auto-ignition temperatures resulting in the oil catching fire on its own, and producing flames in excess of two feet high on occasion! This type of fire will continue to burn until removed from heat and any other source of ignition and, the fire must be extinguished.
Safety Rules for Hot Oil Fires
Rule 1: If a pan of hot oil catches on fire, turn off the stove as long as you can do so safely, and slide the pan away from the hot burner.
Rule 2: Always have a lid handy. A grease fire like the one in this photo can usually be extinguished simply by placing a lid on the pan. Do so by placing the lid onto the pan from the front to the rear – in this case you are using the lid to shield yourself from the heat of the fire.  This action should extinguish the fire very quickly. Only use a lid to extinguish the flame when the fire is small and contained in the pan. Once it has spread beyond the pan, it is best to use a fire extinguisher. If there is no fire extinguisher available, then try throwing baking soda onto the fire until the fire has been extinguished. If you cannot safely extinguish the fire, or you don’t feel comfortable attempting to extinguish the fire, call 911 immediately.
Rule 3: NEVER pour water on a grease fire! Water will not put out a grease fire, it will only spread the fire and make it worse, perhaps MUCH worse. Pouring water onto oil that has caught fire can cause the oil to almost erupt, exploding out of the pan and splattering in all directions, taking the fire with it. 
Recommendation: Purchase at minimum a 2.5 pound ABC or, BC Class fire extinguisher. Most home fire extinguishers come with a wall mounting bracket so that you can store it within easy reach near where you cook. For home grease fires, the newest and most effective type of extinguisher is a wet chemical Class-K extinguisher.  This type of fire extinguisher uses a potassium acetate based extinguishing agent with a low pH which also cools the fire as it extinguishes it. This can be important to prevent re-ignition; however, literally putting a proper fitting lid on the fire and removing the pot away from the source of heat will extinguish the fire.

Thanks

www.pemadamapiku.com
www.pemadamapiku.com/rumahku