Fire Extinguisher PSA

Fire Extinguisher PSA

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I am deviating from the usual content tonight because I wanted to talk about something serious. The importance of having fire extinguishers! What was planned to be a fun, special day for us almost turned tragic and it happened in a split second!  While preparing for a party, we had a fire in our oven that escalated quickly but thankfully, we were able to extinguish it with a fire extinguisher before serious damage could occur. I am SO grateful!

I was baking crostini to serve as bruschetta and it wasn't cooking fast enough. So I bumped up the broiler to toast them. During this time, our friends came and we started hugging and greeting each other. It was then I smelled something burning, walked into the kitchen, and saw thick smoke pouring out of the door of the oven. I opened it and WHOOOSH!  The flames leaped out and began growing immediately toward our oven hood. I closed the door while Jim got an extinguisher from our kitchen cupboard right next to the oven and with a few discharges he had put out most of the flames. What was left of my crostini got hosed down in the yard as it was still smoldering.

The house was full of smoke from top to bottom and the alarms were all going crazy. But everyone and everything was safe, thankfully. However, it made me realize how quickly things could go from manageable to out of control. And I am so grateful Jim is a careful and cautious man. He insists on fire extinguishers everywhere and, while we need them to buy a house in NJ, he makes sure they are up to date and readily available.

The house was full of a pale, fine chemical dust. We spent two hours cleaning the oven, unscrewing each panel, plate, and heat shield down to the bottom of the oven.  It was a long process but it had to be done. And not disassembling the parts would have been a huge mistake. Every time we thought we had gotten the most of it up, we removed another panel and found mounds of the dust. 

We researched how to clean this particular kind of chemical (vacuum, soap/water)but there are several kind of extinguishers and they each have their own methods.

We plan on buying more this week to put all over, upstairs, downstairs, everywhere. And I will know what kind of chemical we will buy so I know right away how to clean up.  Please, if you have them, know where they are!  And if you don't have them, please go out and buy them. A few dollars is worth the peace of mind you will have and hopefully you'll never have to use it!

Ok, I'll 100% honest, I was kinda hoping I could get new cabinets out of the deal but alas, nothing could destroy those monsters. Figures!

Stay safe!

Cheers!

Jenny