Hillary Berkowitz of Cary knows firsthand the danger of leaving a pan on a hot stove. When she added oil to the hot pan, a fireball consumed her kitchen.
"The phone's ringing, the kid's crying and the pan is getting really hot," Berkowitz says. "I didn't think anything of it. The flames were all the way up to the ceiling in seconds."
Fire captain Debbie Hilliard says the heat of a pan on an unattended stove could reach an ignition temperature.
A common mistake people do is using water to contain a grease fire. Water evaporates and sends hot grease flying. People also mistakenly use flour to douse the flames. Flour is highly flammable.
Common household ingredients like salt and baking soda are good ways to put out a grease fire. Fire safety experts say the fastest way to stop the flames is to cover the pan to cut off oxygen to the fire and turn off the stove.
In the case of the Berkowitz family, everyone got out of the house OK, but they now know that fire safety will be on the menu from now on.
"Now, I know I can't answer the phone and take care of the kids while I cook. I have to keep that separate because that was the most scariest thing," Berkowitz says.
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