Tip: Use baking soda to stop Hot Grease Fires

Okay- this is long - you don't have to read it unless you want...I wanted to have it written down. Maybe you can learn from my mistakes - and before any of you get critical - realize you are thinking as you are reading this - I am in the midst of it... Oh and if you read this one go ahead and read the next one too - Papa's Sauce - it's cute about my dad and Steph.

Well tonight I almost lit myself on fire and the house. I put oil in a pan to fry my shells for my favorite dinner - tacos. I left, got distracted, robert called..blah blah blah. I walked out and the house was filled with smoke. The pan was only left for a few minutes but I left it already heating and on too big of a burner for the size of the pan. The kids were watching tv and didn't notice the smoke. I ran to the kitchen - well the pan was smoking at this point - it was sooo hot. I didn't touch it because I have never seen anything so hot. As I'm looking at it, it ignites and flames are going up about 1 1/2 feet. I had to move it or it would have burned up my microwave above the stove. When I moved it, the flames start flying as high as 3 feet up which scared me so I walked across the kitchen and set it on the counter. Jessy suggests water - I say, "NO WAY" knowing what would happen = all this time my house is filling up with gray and black smoke. I look up and realize that it's going to make my ceiling black and give us all firemen lungs so I decide to take it outside. I tried to think of a way to put it out and couldn't think of ONE way to stop it - I know that in a fire you smother it but somehow the hot grease seemed different. I kept thinking that anything I put on it would catch fire. Now I have a few ideas - like a cookie sheet! But at the time...I couldn't think of how to put it out. I even thought I should take a picture before I move it (which is so typical of me to want to capture the moment and not live the moment...not that you would want to live this moment...you picture loving people know what I mean) but decided it was too serious (the flames had settled but were still about 1 1/2 feet up up in the air) and the house was looking like the inside of the chimney when Robert starts a fire and the smoke comes out the wrong way. Robert calls in the meantime. Dani is on the phone and Steph starts crawling up on the barstools, jessy and sammy are airing out the house or trying to. I panic - yell at Dani to get off the phone and get Steph out of here - Dani is saying to Robert, "Dad - there is a big fire!" I think she even told him, "Mom is on fire!" He is hearing me say, "hang up dani and get her out the front door NOW." Sammy calls Greg (our fireman neighbor) who is NOT home but Gina gets on the phone with him. I decide that the smoke is getting worse and that I need to get this thing outside - not realizing that by moving I will fan the flames - I put back on the potholder, pick up the pan and the flames start going higher - literally over 3 feet in the air. I walk to to door and notice that my potholder on my hand has now caught fire and the flames are coming up my arm. You won't believe this - but I was calm!! I know - that is shocking. Even when Jessy told Robert the story later I heard her say, "Dad, mom was so calm. She wasn't screaming or panicked at all when the fire was getting her!" I'm still shocked at that. At this point my arm looks like it's on fire and I started wondering what I was going to do if my sweater ignited or my hair. There is a dead tree by my door - which I didn't think about when I headed that way - (I had brought it in to get it out of the freeze or it would die) - well I think the tree is alive but all the leaves are brown (I know it's a song). It seems like the fire looked at it and starting leaping higher - literally like it was hungry. I don't know if I was more afraid of the tree catching or the fact that the flames seemed hungry for my hair and were still trying to come up my arm! I couldn't put it down so I made a quick move out the door, dropped oil all over the rug, burning it (no melting it) and got the pan outside - I kept thinking that this thing has got to stop but it didn't. I really have no idea why my hair or the tree did not catch on fire. Well - outside there were things all around it which I was kicking away. Gina suggested throwing flour on it - well I had to throw it as it was still burning so it actually ignited more and then it worked, and it calmed down. We then threw a cookie sheet on it which was also Gina's suggestion. Not sure where my brain was at the time. Well actually I think it was thinking how to avoid disaster in case my hair and the tree caught fire at the same time and would my kids know to stay away from me? And how was I going to put me out? In all honesty - I must have had divine help because it doesn't make sense to me that the tree didn't catch and my sleeve was not burned at all. Needless to say - I am more afraid of it now than when it happened which is often the case - which is probably why I am not in bed right now! I am so thankful no one got hurt and and that my hair, my alive dead tree and curtains didn't catch on fire. I'm thankful Gina was home even though she couldn't get to me, it was a comfort and she was able to help me get it out. I'm also so thankful for my children. All this time Jessy and Sammy were opening windows and Nathaniel and Daniele had Stephanie sitting outside the front door. The kids were amazing. They didn't panic or cry - maybe they didn't know how dangerous fire is? I am going to talk with my kids about fire-safety - that is usually not a homeschool topic but it now will be! So...If you ever have a hot grease fire, put baking soda on it, don't move it, don't put water on it, don't carry it near flammable things and have a working fire extinguisher in the kitchen. It also helps to live next to a fireman and his wife :O)

I just looked up what to do on the web. Here's what I found:

Never, never put water on a grease fire! Water will splatter the grease and dramatically increase the size of the fire. (See I knew that!) You will easily get burned! NEVER try to carry a flaming grease fire outside. It will quickly be too hot to carry and you will certainly spread the fire over the entire area. OOPS!!!!