Hot take: The worst shift I ever had was when our fryer oil caught fire during a Friday night rush

I was working the grill at a burger joint in Tacoma when the fryer basket got stuck and the oil overheated. Flames shot up to the ceiling, maybe 3 feet high, and the whole line panicked. I yelled for someone to hit the fire suppression button while I grabbed the lid, but it was too hot to touch with my gloves. Another cook threw a box of baking soda on it, which finally smothered the flames after what felt like a full minute. We lost that fryer for the night and had to refund like 15 orders. Anyone else had to deal with a kitchen fire and what did you do?

3 comments

3 Comments

christopher_craig2mo ago

Wow, I used to think baking soda was a myth for fires until I saw it work.

piper_lopez2mo ago

Saw a video where salt worked too.

nora_park7215d ago

Took me a minute to believe the salt thing too until my neighbor showed me. She keeps a big shaker of it by her stove for grease fires, said it smothers them just as good as baking soda. I tested a tiny one in my backyard with some old cooking oil and it actually worked, which surprised me. Just make sure it's a lot of salt though, a little pinch won't do much for a real fire.