How to Extinguish a Skillet Fire

Tips & Warnings:

• Always have a lid that fits the skillet you are using, or a cookie sheet or other flat baking dish on the counter and ready for use when cooking with oil, grease or fat.
• Always pay close attention to the cooking process when cooking with oil, fat, or grease. Getting distracted for only a minute--answering the phone or doorbell or checking on the children in the next room--may be all it takes for the pan to catch fire.
• Have a fire extinguisher, rated ABC, easily accessible to the kitchen, but away from the stove for use if covering the pan does not work, or if the fire has already spread to the kitchen cabinets, drapes, etc.
• If the liquid in the pan starts smoking in any way, reduce the heat under the pan immediately: it only takes a few more degrees of heat for the liquid to reach its ignition temperature and that means FIRE!
• Never use water on a skillet fire as it will splatter the burning liquid and spread the fire to other surfaces.
• Never use flour on a skillet fire as the flour's dust-sized particles will burn rapidly.
• Never try to move the skillet from the stove to the sink or out of the house. The hot skillet handle may cause you to drop the skillet in to the floor, spreading flaming liquid across the kitchen floor. If you dump the contents into the sink, the flaming liquid can ignite kitchen drapes over the sink or adjacent wooden cabinets.