Slide the lid over the pan

Heat off, lid on from the side, leave it. Many people say to turn off the burner alongside smothering, because the oil can reignite from the heat; some say the fire is put out by cutting off its air with a lid, a metal tray or a larger pan, and others say the same in fewer words. People corrected each other on the lid, and this is the point to keep: do not drop it straight down onto the pan — some people warn that pushes a rush of air into the flame and sprays burning oil — slide it across from one edge, with your arm at the side rather than over the pan. Then leave it. Some people warn the pan stays dangerously hot for a long time and the fire relights if you lift the lid to check; one person says a lid sucked tight onto a cooling pan is normal, and another says to expect a lot of smoke. One person warns a glass lid can shatter in the heat, so a metal one is better; some people say a fire blanket is the safer cover for a chip pan or a fryer, and one person keeps one next to the cooker. This page checked the sequence against the US and UK fire services’ own published guidance, and it is the same: heat off, lid on, leave it. What you do not do is the rest of the page: water, flour, moving the pan, opening the oven. And the fence sits over all of it — if the flames are not out the moment the lid is on, or the fire has left the pan, one person warns leave, shut the door, and call from outside.

Because water under hot oil becomes steam in an instant and throws the burning oil into the room — many people say so, and some people argue only about the mechanism. The version they settle on: the water sinks below the oil because it is heavier, flashes to steam — expanding enormously as it does — and blasts upward, carrying burning oil with it as a spray and a cloud; one person says even a small splash turns a pot fire into a kitchen fire. Some people describe the fireball from water; people argue about how tall it was, and this page does not need the number. A water-based extinguisher does the same thing. The oven is the other case. Some people say that if a fire starts inside the oven, do not open the door — opening it feeds the flames with air — and turn the oven off. One point changes why, and this page carries it: some people point out that a domestic oven is not airtight — it vents — so a closed door may not starve the fire out — one person warns it may not stop a spreading fire — and the door stays shut to contain it; the same person warns the oven’s own insulation and lining can burn, and the fire may not stop on its own. So: heat off, door shut, and watch it from a step back with the exit behind you. If the flames are dying, wait until they are gone and the oven is cold before you open it. If they are growing, or smoke is coming out round the door, that is the fence: out, door shut, call. People argue whether to smother an oven fire by waiting or to use a rated extinguisher at once; the decider people give is whether the fire is contained and whether you have the extinguisher within reach — which is the next question.

The lid before any of them; then an extinguisher if you own one; then soda or salt only for a very small fire with no lid to hand — and never the other powders. Many people keep a box of baking soda by the stove as the thing to throw on a small grease fire when there is no lid or no extinguisher, and some say it works on a small oven fire too; some people say salt does the same job. Things people corrected, hard. It must be baking soda, not baking powder — some people say it must be baking soda and not powder, and one of them says why: the powder’s starch burns. And never flour: many people warn flour thrown at a fire disperses into a dust cloud that can ignite explosively — one person who had once used it on a friend’s stove was told to delete the comment — and the same goes for sugar and powdered coffee creamer. Now the argument, which people have across some discussions: one side says baking soda is a sufficient, life-saving tool for a small kitchen fire, especially in a home with no extinguisher; the other says relying on it is risky next to a proper rated extinguisher, which should be the first tool if you have one. People’s own decider is whether you have the extinguisher within reach, and this page adopts it: a lid first, because it is always there; a rated kitchen extinguisher if you own one, aimed at the base of the fire as some people say; and a lot of baking soda — a whole box, not a pinch — or salt, only on a fire small enough to bury, when neither of the first two is to hand. One person warns salt ruins the food, which is the least of your problems. Many people say to keep the soda where you can reach it in the kitchen, and people argue, one person each way, where the extinguisher should live — in the cupboard by the stove for speed, or away from it so you are not reaching through fire to get it; people’s decider is weighing nearness against being able to reach it in a panic.

A fryer is a pan with a plug, and the moment to leave is the moment it is not working. For a deep fryer or a chip pan, people’s sequence is the same as the stovetop — heat off, or the plug pulled if you can reach it without leaning over the oil, then the lid or a fire blanket slid across; one person warns that if a fryer has overflowed with burning oil, stay back until it settles rather than fighting it up close, and some people say a fire blanket is the safer cover than a towel. Do not move a burning pan or fryer: some people warn a spill spreads the fire, and this page refuses the suggestion to carry a pan outside — people’s own warnings are against it. One person points out that modern countertop fryers are enclosed and less prone to the old chip-pan fire than an open pan of oil on a hob; the sequence does not change. Now the fence, which one person states and the US and UK fire services’ guidance states too: if the flames get worse, refuse to go out, or have spread beyond the pan or the oven — stop. Get everyone out, close the door behind you, and call the emergency number from outside — the door and the outside are the US and UK fire services’ words, this page’s own line, not people’s. One person says people perform badly in emergencies unless they have drilled the specific moves, which is why the try-it box asks you to say the sequence once today. People argue, one person each way, whether to reach for the baking soda during an active oven fire or to call the fire service at once — the second side says searching online mid-fire is dangerous — and the answer this page gives is that you are reading this now so that you do not have to then. What people do not cover, and this page names as gaps: a fire that has already left the appliance before anyone calls for help, an electrical fire, and fires in a microwave or a toaster — for the last, one person points out: no metal at all in a microwave, and the US and UK fire services’ guidance for a microwave is the oven’s — this page’s own line, from that guidance, not people’s: door shut, unplug if you safely can, and out if it grows.

A lid that fits, and one of two things people recommend buying. The lid is free: find the metal one that covers your largest frying pan and keep it where you cook. Then people, one each unless marked: a rated extinguisher — in the US the kind marked B or K is for cooking oil, and one person says a general ABC unit is usually adequate for a home kitchen while K is better; a tiny novelty extinguisher may be no use at all, this page adds; some people say to discharge it at the base of the flames; one person warns to check the expiry, which varies by maker; one person calls it cheap insurance against a house. Or a fire blanket, which some people prefer to a towel for a pan or fryer, because it cannot be too wet or too dry. The damp tea towel the older advice recommended is argued here: some people mention it, and people warn, one person each, that a towel that is dripping makes the fire worse — the water again — and that one that is too dry catches; one person draped an apron over a pan to buy the seconds to find a lid, and one person warns the apron will likely burn. Two habits people keep that are not about the fire itself: nothing flammable stored beside the hob — towels, packaging, one person adds ammunition — and, one person says, an induction hob has no flame to start one. Some people say they have forgotten flammable things in an oven, and one puts frozen pizza in on its cardboard; it is the oven fire people describe. And the honest last line, from one person: nobody rises to an emergency — they fall back on what they drilled. Say the sequence today.