Wednesday, July 28, 2010

stop, drop and roll

{Not my actual kitchen}

Remember when the fire trucks pulled up to your school, and you had to listen to boring lectures for Fire Prevention Week? Well, maybe I should have paid closer attention.

Last night I'm making sweet and sour chicken like any good wife would, and suddenly my pan of oil bursts into flames. Like two-feet high, burn your face off flames.

Me: UHHHHHH.....................
Shea: Haha, is it supposed to do that?
Me: No! This is not a fancy restaurant! Help me!

So Shea tries to be a good husband. And grabs the pan and yells at me to turn the water on. As I am doing it, I am starting to have flashbacks to fire prevention week. Water feels wrong for this situation. But instead all I can remember is covering my ears as they tested out the sirens. And those cute dalmatians.

I turn on the water against my own instincts while simultaneously saying "I am not sure..." BAM! Water hits the pan, and now there are flames high enough to reach our cabinets.

Me: "Ahhhhh! I knew water was bad. We don't even have a fire extinguisher! Is there one in the building? How do we not know this stuff?!"

We got it out by hitting two pans together. And then frantically holding the smoking pan out the window - a show for the neighbors I'm sure. Crisis averted. Though, we are a bit concerned that not once during this fiasco did our fire alarm go off.

I would be amiss if I did not tell you what to do when your canola oil catches on fire. So here it goes.


How to put out a grease fire:
1. Place a metal lid over the flame.
2. Dump an entire box of baking soda on the flames.
3. Spray a dry chemical fire extinguisher at base of flames.
4. Start collecting your family heirlooms and call 911.







This weekend my to do list will include: 1.) Find apartment fire extinguisher, 2.) Buy small extinguisher for under the sink, 3.) Put baking soda in easily accessible location.

9 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 28, 2010

    Eeek! I'm glad it didn't turn out any worse! Thanks for the tips - I had no idea about the baking soda!

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  2. I was going to add, "5. Do not waste valuable seconds taking a photo of your grease fire," but then I saw it was not an actual picture of your fire. I'm sorry I never taught you what to in case of this emergency. We will have to have some emergency preparedness training the next time you come.

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  3. Hahahahaha! You could have received three fire-extinguishers for wedding gifts like we did! (People obviously doubt our cooking and candle burning abilities) But now I'm curious - what did you end up eating for dinner?

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  4. Sue- if you let me cook bacon again at your house then you should be ready for a similar event...

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  5. Oh wow, that is quite the story! Glad you are both safe and got a little fire education through it. Love you!

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  6. Shea,
    That's a good idea. There's nothing that beats learning through experience. I will buy some bacon and alert Grandma Broquist.

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  7. I can picture this exact situation happening to me. I'm sure now the visuals of it all seem pretty funny, right? :)

    Kind of unnerving, though, that your smoke detector didn't go off. Might wanna get that checked...

    Found you from 20sb... nice to meet you!
    Cassie

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  8. Lucky escape! And on the bright side, now you know.
    Thanks for including the grease fire tips, I need to buy baking soda.

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  9. Been there, done that. Thank God for the amazing multi-talented boyfriend I've got!

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