Ahh, little fire incident (first horrible experience)

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Ahh, my little fire incident!

Quick intro, first post, but I didn't register just to post this, I registered yesterday. Decided to just start reading through and finding some tutorials. I have an interest in electronics engineering.

FIRE! ... Small fire, just a little bit on top of the cooking tray, about half a foot tall on the tray which amplified about 6-8 times spreading on the coverts after running it under water.

I had bacon cooking in one of those Infrawave ovens Stupid me, especially that I'm home alone decided to go back into my room and feed my addiction to the internet. I always thought I could just leave the oven unattended since it would stop cooking by itself. So I was in my room happily browsing, and then I've decided to go back into the kitchen to start eating...

Walking out into the living room it'is all foggy... H*** S***! FIRE! In my mind, "Oh **** where the hell is the fire extinguisher!?" I then realized we don't have one in the apartment BUT INSTEAD it was outside in the hall (WOW WTF YOU IDIOT!). Yep, I remembered that the fire extinguisher was outside the hallway AFTER I had put out the fire. (WTF is wrong with me huh...again... IDIOT!)

So, a failed attempt at putting out the fire from the tray from hell. I ran across the living room and for a few short seconds I did not know what to do (idiot) and I had a thought of tossing it outside the hallway (WHICH HAD CARPETS - I can't believe I had that thought!?). Luckily I decided to just put it on the ground infront of my door (not outside, but inside which are tiled), grabbed a pillow and thwacked it away. LMAO simple as that...

But thinking back at that moment, what if I had dropped that tray onto the sofa? Why the hell would I run around the house like that, wow wtf. I really can't say anything else other than "what the ****!?"

What shocked the crap out of me were the flames amplifying in size after I had ran water over it. But why... my guess is that there is some chlorine in our water here in Canada, err how the hell would I know? So I'm hoping someone here can give me an answer.

Well, some of you might think I'm a little sensitive and that I even took pictures but it gave me a damn adrenaline rush... I've completely lost my appetite, and my eyes still hurt (almost watery) since it took forever for the smoke to clear out of the apartment...still have the fans running.
 

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Engineering news on Phys.org
If you improve the quality of your writing, you could be our new ... what's his name? Heck, I'm already forgetting ole what's his name now that you're here.

Not quite as impressive as thawing a 2-Liter plastic bottle of frozen Pepsi with a blow torch and then setting it on the carpet, but close enough.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthr...?t=7021&page=1

The fact that you titled your thread "first horrible experience" is especially encouraging.
 
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The huge flames due to adding water are the reason you're always told not to pour water on a grease fire...the water hitting the hot grease splatters it further, and it's still burning as it splatters. You're lucky you didn't get hurt or do more damage.

In the future, it's a good idea to keep a lid large enough to cover any cookware you're using nearby to smother the flames if you have a fire...just toss on the lid. Barring that, dumping on baking soda can help too. And, of course most importantly, don't leave things unattended when cooking.
 
What would of happened if I threw it in the shower? Would it overwhelm the fire and put it out, or would it had been worst than running it under the sink?
 
Confused said:
What would of happened if I threw it in the shower? Would it overwhelm the fire and put it out, or would it had been worst than running it under the sink?

it depends---is your shower/tub made out of fiberglass/plastic/other 'resin' products?
 
Confused said:
What would of happened if I threw it in the shower? Would it overwhelm the fire and put it out, or would it had been worst than running it under the sink?

That depends. Grease floats, so you're not going to drown the fire. The danger of putting water on a grease fire is that you expand the surface area of the grease, which increases the rate of reaction of the grease. The fire can still only burn as long as you have fuel. If there's nothing flammable in the shower area, then it would be safer than a grease fire in a kitchen - a kitchen has lots of things that can burn.

On the other hand, it's a really bad idea to carry around a grease fire. If the pan got too hot, or the grease spattered on you and you became more concerned about the fire on your clothes than the fire in the pan, you'd wind up dropping a pan of flaming grease, spreading it to all kinds of things that burn. http://www.hanford.gov/fire/safety/kitchen.htm
 
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You are so lucky, I have a good friend who wears the scars of a grease fire on her face and arms. She tried to put with water. Your very lucky that the pillow didn't catch fire too.

Rule number 1. Never walk away from cooking if it's something that contains grease.

Rule number 2. Food with a high fat contant should always be cooked in a pan, which has a lid, which should be kept close at hand.

Rule number 3. Keep a good fire extinguisher right outside the kitchen entrance.
 
hypatia said:
You are so lucky, I have a good friend who wears the scars of a grease fire on her face and arms. She tried to put with water. Your very lucky that the pillow didn't catch fire too.

Rule number 1. Never walk away from cooking if it's something that contains grease.

Rule number 2. Food with a high fat contant should always be cooked in a pan, which has a lid, which should be kept close at hand.

Rule number 3. Keep a good fire extinguisher right outside the kitchen entrance.

Rule number 4. Know how to use a fire extinguisher properly BEFORE you need it for a real fire. (Sometimes your local fire department will offer fire extinguisher training type classes...a lot of people use them wrong and then just lose valuable time getting out and away from the fire rather than effectively putting it out.)
 
Confused said:
I had bacon cooking in one of those Infrawave ovens Stupid me, especially that I'm home alone decided to go back into my room and feed my addiction to the internet. I always thought I could just leave the oven unattended since it would stop cooking by itself. So I was in my room happily browsing, and then I've decided to go back into the kitchen to start eating...

Rule number 5. Avoid addictive behaviors
 
Rule #1 - never post anything on PF discussion that:

invokes possible didactic science content ( 3 posts)
invokes the 'parent' response in readers (4 posts)
allows for even more humor (1 post)

You get responses all over the map including this non-sequitur nonsense little ditty.
That'll teach you to be funny... :)
 
There's a PSA video making the e-mail rounds showing why you don' throw water on a grease/oil fire. It's pretty scary. Take a look on youtube. I'll bet it's there.
 
jim mcnamara said:
Rule #1 - never post anything on PF discussion that:

invokes possible didactic science content ( 3 posts)
invokes the 'parent' response in readers (4 posts)
allows for even more humor (1 post)

You get responses all over the map including this non-sequitur nonsense little ditty.
That'll teach you to be funny... :)

What, can't you count any higher than 5 on your fingers? That's sad. :smile:
 

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