Experts are unanimous, here is the reflex that should be taught from school and known to everyone.
When you cook or you have to interrupt your preparations to take care of children, it may happen that you forget a dish on the fire. Thus, very quickly, overheating oil and flames suddenly go up. This is why a professional firefighter recently shared a gesture to avoid the worst.
In his video, the firefighter begins by dismantling the received ideas. No, do not take the pan to put it outside the fire. “Often people have the reflex to take the pan. And that is a bad idea, because the flames will come back to you and they will burn you”, he alerts. Indeed, a pan that is blazing is dangerous, unstable and above all impossible to control with bare hands. Another frequent error: throw water. This gesture, which seems logical in an emergency, is only getting things worse. Water and oil do not mix well: in contact with burning oil, water vaporizes instantly and projects flames throughout the room. This is the assured chain reaction.
What the firefighter offers is particularly effective and very easy to execute. “The tea towel that is in the kitchen, you all have a cloth, I take it, I protect my hands behind, I lower myself, I put it on it and I turn out”, he recommends, while mimicking the action in front of the fiery pan. “It is a very very simple gesture”, he insists. Note that this tea towel must be wet beforehand, in order to be able to stifle the flames. No need for special equipment or to be trained, but a reflex to know and above all to remember. Because as David Sevelin, boss of the Oxwork brand, reminds us that shared the video: “9 out of 10 people do exactly what you need to do.” He continues: “This reflex, it should be taught from school”. In houses, in canteens, in crèches. Wherever a fire can start.
Once the cloth is in place, we no longer touch anything. The firefighter indicates: “There is no point in looking at whether the fire is turned off or not”. For what ? Because oil vapors can escape and ignite in contact with the heat of the pan. Thus, leave the cloth for half an hour, even an hour, while everything cools. And only then, check if the pan has cooled to the touch. If it is still hot, wait, it is a matter of safety.
