Kitchen Safety

We moved!  We're in our new place and we just got wifi.  Wahoo!

I definitely broke in the kitchen quickly.  I was making a panini type sandwich for a potluck get together so I preheated the oven.  The next thing I knew the fire alarm was going off.  Let me tell you they did not skimp on a very loud fire alarm.  Ahhhhhhhh

I opened the oven, which I know you're not supposed to do.  In the moment, I think I needed to see what I was dealing with.  There were definite flames.  Ahhhhhhhh

So I called Mike while trying to google what to do.  He was super calm the entire call while I freaked out (it probably helped that he couldn't see the smoke billowing out of the oven).  

He said to throw baking soda on it.  I did.  It seemed to fizzle but came back.

I searched the apartment for a fire extinguisher (maybe I should have looked for one before this moment).

This is while I kept trying to silence the fire alarm (to no avail) and open windows to let out smoke.

Then Mike said just throw water on it.  I have heard before this is bad.  Maybe they are referring to grease fires.  It worked.  The fire went out and I sat in the corner waiting for the fire alarm to stop.  (Note: this is false, I stood on a chair, frantically waving a towel at it, hoping the smoke would move away while my eyes burned.  Also note: it didn't work.)

Finally the alarm stopped.  Mike offered to leave work and come home, which I declined.  I called Karen and debated not going to my get together.  She encouraged me to go and my heart kept racing.

I was distracted the entire time I was with my friends, but I'm glad I still went.  I had no idea what the damage was, just that a cutting board we stored in the bottom drawer caught on fire.  The same items I had in the stove drawer at my old place.  Needless to say I will never use that drawer ever again, anywhere...ever.

I got home and Mike had cleaned everything up (and thrown out everything that was in the drawer).  I was so incredibly relieved.  Words can't explain.

The oven was good as new and I'm currently afraid of it, which I guess is okay in the summer...

As I look now it seems I did everything you're not supposed to do with a kitchen fire.  Maybe it worked because it was a cutting board (while it was happening I had no idea what it was).  So I write this to encourage you to read a quick article on fire safety because it all happened so fast.  My call with Mike was 15 minutes and he stayed on the phone a bit after the fire was out.  It felt like an hour, my heart was racing.  RACING!

And see if you have a fire extinguisher.