Working in the insurance industry, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to warn folks about possible hazards that exist for them day-to-day, and how to be prepared to either 1) avoid the peril or 2) handle the peril once it occurs. And still, it was a shock when one day the almonds I was toasting under the broiler burst into flame.

I’m not gonna lie, I stood there for at least 5 seconds thinking, “Oh, look, there’s a fire in my oven,” before I realized that I needed to actually DO something about it. But what to do? If I OPEN the oven, that adds air which fuels the fire… so not right now. But is the fire going out? Or getting bigger? Sadly, in this case, it was getting bigger. I realized I needed to pull out the fire extinguisher that was under my sink.

Quick digression: thank GOODNESS I had a fire extinguisher under my sink. Given my profession, I have MANY fire extinguishers throughout my home. If that were not the case, there is a very real chance that my home would have sustained much more damage and possibly burned to the ground.

I grabbed the fire extinguisher and was frustrated to discover that, while the fire was raging in my stove, I was unable to read the instructions on how to use this fire extinguisher and had to go get my glasses. It’s fine. I’m sure the fire will wait. While I was familiar with a traditional fire extinguisher, this one was a small canister fire suppressant that was new to me. I was going to get around to familiarizing myself with it. I really was.

Luckily, I have as many glasses lying about the house as fire extinguishers, so I was able to read the instructions and activate the fire extinguisher, spraying along the base of the fire with a sweeping motion. And like that, the fire was out.

I won’t bore you with how much work it was to clean up my stove after that, but I will leave you with some additional tips:
• Keep an eye on your cooking: unattended cooking is the number one cause of cooking fires
• Don’t wear loose or drapey clothing when cooking, and keep towels and potholders away from hot surfaces
• Keep an eye on kids and pets
• Keep cooking surfaces clean – food and grease can catch on fire
• Keep solvents and flammable cleaners away from heat sources (so… don’t store them above your stove)
• Keep the handles of pans out of the kitchen traffic pattern (to avoid food spills)
• On the top of the stove you can often smother a fire with a pan lid
• You can extinguish food fires with baking soda (NOT water or flour)
• Don’t be afraid to call the fire department!

Kimberly Lilley, CRIMS, CMCA, EBP is the Director of Business Development for Berg Insurance Agency and can be reached at kimberly@berginsurance.com