In which our heroine fails to burn down the entire apartment block.

[agoodwinsmith]

But it was close.

Yes.  I was heating up the oil to cook the onions, when I discovered that I was out of noodles and started hunting for the rice.  I already had the fan on and the door open, so the first thing that caught my attention was this hissy spitty noise of very hot oil.  I (one can see the stove from my seat in the living room) looked over and saw roiling smoke blackly roiling.  I hustled over, freaking out, turned off the burner, and drew back my hand just as the oil burst into flames.  Argh.  I did not scream, I said incoherent oh golly rats whatever things in an agitated manner, which failed to catch the attention of my Stanley-Cup-series-playoff watching SOGP.  Even as I did it, I knew that I shouldn't do it because supposedly it only spreads the fire madly, but I thrust the flaming pan into the sink and turned the water on it.  It did indeed not go out straight away, and the flames leapt up, but the amount of oil was only enough to coat the bottom of the pan, and so the steady onslaught of colder water eventually vanquished the flames.  There was soot on the backsplash and the bottom of the cupboards above the sink.

I am amazingly lucky.  There were all sorts of flamable things beside the stove - bread bags and spice packets and like that - and beside the sink was the wooden knife rack, and a piece of paper towel and like that.

I promise not to do stupid again.

Strangely, the smoke alarm, which freaks out over a tiny whiff of slightly singed toast, never said a thing.  There was roiling - there was actual *soot* - nada.  Huh.

Comments

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

I swear that smoke alarms exist only to comment on my cooking. Last week I burnt some sugar water I was making to feed the hummingbirds [1]. There was thick smoke hanging down to within a metre of the kitchen floor yet the smoke alarm was silent. This evening I took the rack of lamb out of the oven and the alarm started wailing about the invisible whisps of smoke therefrom.

[1]1/4 C sugar, 1 C water. Bring to boil and allow to cool. Do not forget about it for half an hour, thus allowing it to burn into a crusty, foamy, sticky, carbonised toffee-like substance. Your pot will never be the same afterward.

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

I should add that I've always had the thought in my head that you're supposed to slap a lid on such a flaming oil fire, starving the fire of oxygen. That is if you can depend on the lid to fit tightly. Baking soda is supposed to be another good fire putter-outer.

I guess the trick is to remember these before you get the pan under the tap. Of course it could have been so much worse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAgptNEZ7vg).

[thomaszahr.livejournal.com]

wowa - than glod that worked out - where's the fire blanket when you need it?

[cat63.livejournal.com]

Eek! I'm glad there was no serious damage done.

[ciciaye.livejournal.com]

Eeep! Glad it wasn't worse!

[randombler.livejournal.com]

Very glad to hear you are OK, and no more harm done than a little soot.

In the UK it is common to have a fire blanket in the kitchen for exactly this problem. It is just a flameproof blanket (fibreglass, I think) which you chuck over the fire and starve it of air. Mine have sat in kitchens for years and never been used - but they do no harm, just get dusty.

One thing to remember is, once used, leave for half an hour until all is cool.

[khitomer.livejournal.com]

Please do not do this again. Understand, I don't care a fig for you. I'm merely being selfish as a lack of April's blog to read would make my day less interesting

Seriously, glad you were not toasted.

[moustachios.livejournal.com]

Argharghagle. I'm relieved to hear you're okay, and that the building is, too.

Does the fire alarm need new batteries? Or was it just playing dumb?