Almost burned the house down on Chritmas!!
12-26-2001, 04:43 PM
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Almost burned the house down on Chritmas!!
My mom was cooking duck in the oven in one of those Pyrex glass dishes.
The dish is about 24" x 18" , and was used many times in the past without problems.
The dish somehow cracked/ exploded, and had about 2 inches of water which was full of the grease from the duck.
Well, the oil spilled in the oven and caught fire.
My father grabbed the kitchen fire extinguisher off the wall and opened the oven door. Once he blasted the flames, they died down and filled the upper level of the house with unbreatheable smoke and halon from the extinguisher. Right after he stopped, though, the flames shot up again, due to the heat of the oven. He and my mother ran outside, due to lack of air. I ran in the upstairs hearing my parents yelling, and I saw the smoke. My father passed me by, racing to the door to quench his thirst for oxygen, and I too could feel the rancid smoke burning my eyes and throat. I opened the patio door, and turned on the cieling fans. I grabbed a couple of towels, thrusting them into my parents' faces, as well as my own, to help us breathe.
The thick white smoke was choking, and almost comlpetely hid everything from sight. Everything except for the flames shooting out of the oven. Using a differant extinguisher, along with some water, and taking turns for air breaks, we finally got the fire out. The oven is caked in powder. All the table settings in the dining room had black sooty particles showing on the white china. The cieling is covered in random soot stains. A lot of food was contaminated.
The smell still lingers today. Luckily for us, the oven drawer underneath never caught fire too, cause that's where the majority of the fluid went, and from there, it spilled to the floor. If the grease fire spread to the kitchen floor, I'm sure that our Christmas would have been a true disaster!!
We never had a chance to call the Fire Dept. , (my Dad's too stubborn to ask for help! :rolleyes: ) and my parents denied any smoke inhalation problems.
This was about 2 hours before everyone was to arrive. Just enough time for my mom to use a plug-in turkey oven, to prepare the unused and uncontaminated duck. Even without the duck, we would still have a 5 course meal, so the loss of the food was not an issue.
In their classic style, my parents cleaned up everything, and the rest of the holiday went on as if nothing had happened.
Today they are going to tackle the task of cleaning up the oven to see if its salvageable.
I just want to thank God, and any and all guardian :blueangel: that were watching over us yesterday!!
I also wish to say that I'm never going to use glass dish, even if it is deemed "safe up to 1000 degrees". There is too much at stake. :nono:
[Modified by '75 383 ElkGrove, 2:45 PM 12/26/2001]
The dish is about 24" x 18" , and was used many times in the past without problems.
The dish somehow cracked/ exploded, and had about 2 inches of water which was full of the grease from the duck.
Well, the oil spilled in the oven and caught fire.
My father grabbed the kitchen fire extinguisher off the wall and opened the oven door. Once he blasted the flames, they died down and filled the upper level of the house with unbreatheable smoke and halon from the extinguisher. Right after he stopped, though, the flames shot up again, due to the heat of the oven. He and my mother ran outside, due to lack of air. I ran in the upstairs hearing my parents yelling, and I saw the smoke. My father passed me by, racing to the door to quench his thirst for oxygen, and I too could feel the rancid smoke burning my eyes and throat. I opened the patio door, and turned on the cieling fans. I grabbed a couple of towels, thrusting them into my parents' faces, as well as my own, to help us breathe.
The thick white smoke was choking, and almost comlpetely hid everything from sight. Everything except for the flames shooting out of the oven. Using a differant extinguisher, along with some water, and taking turns for air breaks, we finally got the fire out. The oven is caked in powder. All the table settings in the dining room had black sooty particles showing on the white china. The cieling is covered in random soot stains. A lot of food was contaminated.
The smell still lingers today. Luckily for us, the oven drawer underneath never caught fire too, cause that's where the majority of the fluid went, and from there, it spilled to the floor. If the grease fire spread to the kitchen floor, I'm sure that our Christmas would have been a true disaster!!
We never had a chance to call the Fire Dept. , (my Dad's too stubborn to ask for help! :rolleyes: ) and my parents denied any smoke inhalation problems.
This was about 2 hours before everyone was to arrive. Just enough time for my mom to use a plug-in turkey oven, to prepare the unused and uncontaminated duck. Even without the duck, we would still have a 5 course meal, so the loss of the food was not an issue.
In their classic style, my parents cleaned up everything, and the rest of the holiday went on as if nothing had happened.
Today they are going to tackle the task of cleaning up the oven to see if its salvageable.
I just want to thank God, and any and all guardian :blueangel: that were watching over us yesterday!!
I also wish to say that I'm never going to use glass dish, even if it is deemed "safe up to 1000 degrees". There is too much at stake. :nono:
[Modified by '75 383 ElkGrove, 2:45 PM 12/26/2001]
12-26-2001, 04:54 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
Re: Almost burned the house down on Chritmas!! ('75 383 ElkGrove)
Sorry to hear of your mishap. Someone is truly watching over you!! (now's the time to play the Illinois lottery) :jester Glad to hear everyone is safe and healthy.... I've had similar expierences with Pyrex. It seems to weaken with age. Think cast iron dutch oven next time.... JEEEZE.. listen to the domesticated me :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
12-26-2001, 04:59 PM
#3
Team Owner
Re: Almost burned the house down on Chritmas!! (Silvr77)
:eek: I agree.I have had pyrex do the same to me....I will stick with the large dutch oven as well..........I am guessing the duck was not salvageable!! I am glad everyone is okay
12-26-2001, 05:06 PM
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Re: Almost burned the house down on Chritmas!! (Alwyn678)
That Darn pyrex is a real hazzard. I had a meatloaf in one, an went to remove it from the oven. Just as the dish cleared the oven door it broke into 3 pieces. I caught the largest piece with the meatloaf on it bare handed, and the other two piece fell to the floor. I threw the meatloaf (and what was left of the dish) on the counter. Not a scratch or burn on me........I still haven't figured that one out yet, but I aint complaning if you know what I mean. :blueangel:
[Modified by Warp70, 4:08 PM 12/26/2001]
[Modified by Warp70, 4:08 PM 12/26/2001]
12-26-2001, 05:46 PM
#6
Team Owner
Re: Almost burned the house down on Chritmas!! (79MakoL82)
harrowing experience! I grilled a steak in a pyrex dish and brought it out to serve..... the dish broke as I approached the table and glass and steak fell to the floor. No real damage (other than no steak for dinner!) but we dont do high temp cooking with pyrex any more. MJ
12-26-2001, 06:20 PM
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Senior Member since 1492
Re: Almost burned the house down on Chritmas!! (MNJack)
Happened to me too. Fortunately I was cooking Orange roughy in tomato sauce and not anything flamable. Darn dish split in two as I'm lifting it from the oven. Filled the house with steam!
Glad your disaster was contained.
Glad your disaster was contained.
12-27-2001, 06:58 AM
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Re: Almost burned the house down on Chritmas!! ('75 383 ElkGrove)
A know-it-all co-worker might have some truth to his B.S. , for once...
After telling the story to him of what happened, he stated that any small scratch, or nick would trigger such an explosion in pyrex, or similar glass/ceramic dishes.
I don't know about ceramics, but yeah, I guess that glass-like stuff would fail from a small fault in the material. (Like a windshield cracking further and futher as it gets colder.)
After telling the story to him of what happened, he stated that any small scratch, or nick would trigger such an explosion in pyrex, or similar glass/ceramic dishes.
I don't know about ceramics, but yeah, I guess that glass-like stuff would fail from a small fault in the material. (Like a windshield cracking further and futher as it gets colder.)
12-27-2001, 03:35 PM
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Re: Almost burned the house down on Chritmas!! ('75 383 ElkGrove)
That's Sad! But it will probably be one of the most remembered Christmas for you and you family. I never even thought of grease fire in the oven. I think that I'll check and make sure that my extinguishers are charged.
By the way we had Turkey/Canadia goose/prime rib all done in my new oil cooker. All you do is get the oil up to temp and it takes about 3 minutes per pound cooking time.
I also cook as often as I can outside so I done smell up the house or have to slave over a hot stove
[Modified by Lt1er, 1:36 PM 12/27/2001]
By the way we had Turkey/Canadia goose/prime rib all done in my new oil cooker. All you do is get the oil up to temp and it takes about 3 minutes per pound cooking time.
I also cook as often as I can outside so I done smell up the house or have to slave over a hot stove
[Modified by Lt1er, 1:36 PM 12/27/2001]
12-27-2001, 03:55 PM
#10
Safety Car
Re: Almost burned the house down on Chritmas!! (Lt1er)
Its a good thing you were able to get it put out. Im glad to hear nobody was injured. I too now will keep a close eye on what pans get used in the oven. This is a great post that can possibly save many others untold troubles. Thanks for sharing it.